Missing presumed alive
by broomstick flyer
Summary: Harry, Ron, Hermione and Luna, have been missing for two years, they are unaware of each other or who they are but then snippets of past memories come to them, then during a snow storm, things begin to happen.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter one

The Woman of his dreams

Seven a.m. and the alarm began to ring, its shrill ringing sound woke him almost as soon as it started, having hit the clock with his fist, he unwillingly dragged himself out of his nice warm bed into the cold air of the winter morning. He slipped his ragged old housecoat around his shoulders and walked across the ice cold floor to the bathroom.

Entering the bathroom he wished he had taken time to put on his slippers, the tile floor was freezing; he had already reached in to turn on the shower when he remembered he no longer had hot water, his boiler had died just three days before. The freezing shower water cascaded down his chest making him gasp and leap back as he tried to reach around it to shut it off. Cursing his bad luck he got dressed, picking the best clothes he possessed to get dressed in and then after polishing his shoes, he pulled on his only coat and rushed from his rundown building.

He had an appointment at the unemployment office at nine, and he had no intention of being late, being unemployed did not mean he could be lazy, and besides, as he told himself so often, he needed to earn some money. It was a long three mile walk to the unemployment office, which gave him a lot of time to think, he was trying to remember how long it had been since he had had a job, but as with all his memories it was just a vague picture somewhere in the back of his mind.

After several minutes attempting to warm himself by walking as brisk as he could, he began to notice that the footpath was slowly filling with other people, all huddled up against the cold, they all seemed to be making their way toward the town centre. Every time he saw a young woman he studied her hair, and if he could see it, her face, he had no idea why, but he felt he was missing some vital part of his life and it had something to do with a young woman. Try as he might he could not rid himself of the feeling, yet he didn't even know what she looked like, the mystery woman he always seemed to be searching for.

It had begun to snow when he finally reached the building that he was looking for. slowly pushing open the door he remembered just how long he had been coming here, it was just a month short of two years, Christmas two years ago, that's when he had first stepped foot into this building, he could not remember how he had arrived here, only that he needed to get himself registered for work. As the memory faded he slowly he made his way to the third floor and entered the open plan area of the unemployment office, making his way over to the reception desk he joined the long queue of people, all here for the same reason he was. It was nearly an hour later when he finally reached the clerk.

"Name and address?" she said to him not even looking up.

"Anthony Cobble," he answered, thinking how strange it was to feel that the name he was known by was not right. He always had the same odd feeling when ever he was asked his name; it was like he was saying someone else's name. Shrugging his shoulders, he signed the piece of paper she slid toward him.

"Did you look for any work in the last two weeks, have you tried every thing available?" she enquired still not looking at him.

'_Two years and I have never once seen this woman's face, she could at least show just a little interest'_, he thought as she ticked a few of the little printed squares on the paper in front of her.

"Next," she called as he looked at the black haired top of her head.

He thought of shouting at her just to see if she actually had a face, how could she sit day after day without looking up? Feeling himself getting annoyed at the impersonal attitude of the staff in this place, he turned and stormed away toward the door, he was about to open it when he remembered he needed to check if any new job vacancies had been posted on the notice boards, slowly turning he walked across the room to the nearest notice board.

He had checked all the jobs on offer on all but one notice board, there at the bottom of the last board he read a small card, there was a job on offer just two streets from his flat, it was only as a kitchen helper in a restaurant, no experience required, the pay was low but it offered free a uniform and a free meal while on duty. Taking the number from the card he joined yet another queue. Having finally reached the counter, the man asked for the vacancy number then turned around to collect the print out that came gradually out of an ancient printer behind him, handing it over the man whispered that if he wanted the job he should hurry.

"I've already printed this out seven times this morning, in fact the young lady that was a few minutes in front of you had a copy," the clerk nodded toward the exit door that was now swinging shut.

Grabbing up the form he rushed out of the unemployment office. determined to beat the woman to this job he raced down the stairs, he reached the building exit at the same time as the young woman, she was pulling up the hood on her coat, he noticed it was an old coat and in places frayed, holding the door open for her he saw a glimpse of her face and was suddenly aware that she was the woman of his dreams. Not in the way it usually meant '_the woman of his dreams'_, no this woman was actually in his dreams.

Night after night, for as long as he could remember, he had been cursed with nightmares, they were not always the same dream, but they all ended with him failing to protect the same young woman, the woman he loved above all things, and each time he failed to save her from some unknown fate. Though he always woke up sweating and shaking, feeling he had let someone down, he could not remember any details of what the dream had been about, he sometimes vaguely remembered the girl he had been trying to save.

She had just looked up saying "Thank you, I…" she stopped in mid sentence and stared at him; a hint of recognition flashed across her face, but then it was gone. He nodded unable to think of anything to say, he was busy trying hard to remember if he had ever dreamt of her name, once again his memory failed him. Pulling up his collar against the now heavily swirling snow, he watched as she walked away from him down the steps to the foot path below.

"Idiot!" he said out loud, getting a strange look from some people that were passing him, "Excuse me miss," he called as she walked away.

She turned her head, staring at him through the falling snow, '_perhaps I do know him'_ she thought looking carefully at him as he walked over to join her.

"Sorry to bother you, this might sound like a pick up line, but well, I just wondered if we have met before?" he asked, before he suddenly felt foolish, it did sound like a pick up line and a bad one at that.

"That's odd, I just had a similar thought," she told him as they stood in the falling snow, she smiled an odd dreamy smile at him.

For some odd reason, the smile sent a warm glow coursing through his body, as though he had just done something good. She was still smiling at him as he looked down at his feet. He pulled his coat tighter as the cold started to bite at his flesh. He now wished he had bought the winter coat he had seen in the charity shop, thing was he had wanted something to rid him of the hunger pains that he had that day, so he had bought food from the market and left buying the coat for another time.

"I don't know why, but just for a second I felt I knew you," she was saying.

"Shall we walk as we talk?" he asked not wanting to leave her, but also wanting to get his cold feet moving.

She nodded her head indicating the direction she was taking, "I have to go to Queen Mary road; I need to see about a job," she said, "I don't suppose you would know where it is?"

"As a matter of fact I was going to go there myself, I was hoping to beat you to the job," once again he looked down at his worn out shoes.

"Oh I see, so you are out of work too?" she spoke quietly so the people passing could not hear.

"I have been for quite some time, its hard getting work when you have no qualifications, no references, and you don't remember which school you went to," he told her as they began to walk.

After a short polite conversation, which included him giving her directions to Queen Mary road, and a short discussion on how strange that they should have thought they knew each other, they reached a bus stop, she joined the queue and with regret he had to leave her, he had no money to pay for bus rides, he wished her luck with the job hunting, and then reluctantly he turned and began the long walk back to his flat. He could not resist glancing back as he walked away; he had not walked far before the swirling snow cut down the visibility preventing him seeing her. Turning his attention back to the direction he was walking he bowed his head against the wind and snow and started the long walk home.

'_You stupid, stupid, fool, idiot, clown, why oh why did I not ask her name, I should have asked where she lived'_ he thought, mentally kicking himself, he began to slow his pace. He stopped walking so suddenly a woman walking behind him bumped into his back and fell backward with a shriek, he turned around and looked down at the woman sitting in the snow, quickly grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet, he said sorry then rushed off back the way he had come.

He reached the bus stop just in time to see the first of the people in the queue begin boarding the bus. there she was the woman of his dreams, she was shuffling forward along with the others, reaching out he tapped her lightly on her shoulder, she turned, a sad look was on her face, as soon as she saw him her smile returned.

"I never asked your name," he mumbled, "I mean I know we are strangers and all that, but…" he trailed off not wanting to sound any worse than he already did.

Her face lit up and she offered her hand, taking her hand in his he suddenly had a flash of memory, it was of a young girl in a school uniform taking his hand, then the memory was gone in an instant.

Shaking her hand he announced his name "…Anthony, Anthony Cobble."

"You don't sound so sure about that," she said, she had a mild look of surprise on her face.

"Sorry, I just get the strange feeling it's not really my name, I don't know how to explain it," he looked devastated.

He was convinced he had just scared her off, it was the last thing he wanted to do, it always seemed to happen, when ever he told some one his name, the hesitation in his voice convinced them he was hiding something.

"I know just what you mean, I get the same odd feeling myself, my name is Susan Dressol, at least that's the name I use," she replied.

The sound of the bus moving off brought their attention back to where they were, they both turned to watch as the bus drove away into the slow moving traffic.

"Perhaps we should wait for the next one over in that shop doorway, at least we will be out of the worst of the snow," she suggested to him.

"Yeah, well, I would like that, I can keep you company till it gets here," he said motioning for her to go first.

"I thought you told me that you live near to Queen Mary road," she questioned.

Slightly embarrassed he answered "I do, it's just that I don't have any money for buses, well not till I get my unemployment pay on Thursday." He felt his face turn red as he spoke, he hated being poor, never having enough money, not even enough to look for work, he had to walk every where, which made looking wider afield for a job impossible.

"Well in that case why don't we both walk, we might as well because I have a feeling that this snow is going to cause chaos on the roads, it wont be long before the traffic comes to a standstill," she smiled and led the way from the shop doorway.

He saw it as she stepped out onto the pavement, a car out of control in the snow, was sliding straight toward her, nearby shoppers yelled a warning, but as she tried to get out of the way she slipped and fell, lying in the snow she had no way to avoid being hit. The car then stopped suddenly and for no apparent reason, it was as though it had hit a wall. It was just inches from hitting her; she stared at the number plate that was just two inches from her face. Before she knew what was happening some one was lifting her to her feet, she looked up and saw his face, it was full of fear and concern; his glistening eyes seemed to have a tear in them.

"How…, I…, what happened?" she asked as he steadied her.

They were both shaking, "I thought I was about to lose you, I can't do that, not after years of searching," he whispered almost to himself.

She had an idea that she knew what had happened, she had seen a few strange things in the past year or two, she had started to think that she had some how caused the odd things to happen, they always seemed to happen when she was angry about some thing, but this she knew had nothing to do with her, it was like magic, she realised that some how he had stopped the car from hitting her, how, she was yet to work out, but she was sure she was right. Together they began walking the long three mile to Queen Mary's road, they were both silent for a while.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 2

Bad Weather

As they walked she was deep in thought, head bowed to avoid the swirling snow, she turned her face to him and through the snow, she said suddenly. "Anthony it was you wasn't it? You stopped that car hitting me, I know you did."

"How could it have been me Susan, I was still on the step, I did wish with all my heart for it to stop, I thought I was about to lose you, after searching so long, but a wish can't stop a car, can it?" he answered looking down at his cold feet once more.

"What do you mean, after years of searching for me?" she wanted to know.

He realised just exactly what he had said, half a second before she asked him, '_how do I explain this one'_ he asked himself, unknowingly saying it out loud so that she heard every word.

"Perhaps you should tell me about it from the start, don't you think," she was looking straight into his eyes.

"Well I don't know when it all started," he began, then he went on to tell her of the nightmares and how she had been the one he had failed, he knew it was her, even though she was slightly hidden under the hood of her coat, he knew the instant he saw her face at the door to the unemployment office, he remembered how he was always checking to see if he could find her, even though it seemed a stupid impossible thing to do.

She agreed that normally it would have been an impossible task, but this time he seemed to have beaten the odds, and had in fact done the impossible. She was intrigued by his story, it mirrored her own life quite a lot, except she had not been having nightmares, instead she had been having sad dreams about the love of her life, a love that had been lost, the reason was never revealed in her dream, as like him she always woke at the wrong time, thus never learning what had happened to her love. She told him how he had for a very brief moment reminded her of the dream lover, then it had been gone, the memory lost to her.

The conversation continued as they made their way slowly through the increasing snow storm, trying to hold a conversation as the weather got worse, when they eventually arrived at the restaurant it was to find it closed, a small note in the window read simply, 'closed due to the weather'. After standing staring at the note for a time, they turned in unison to look at the appalling weather conditions. The snow was now falling so thick they could not see more than a yard or so in front of them, their feet were soaked and freezing, their clothes were white where the wind had blown the freezing white crystals to form a thick cover over them.

The traffic came to a standstill well before they had reached half way from the town centre to where they now stood shivering with the cold, she now regretted that she had been so determined to get a job, she had not considered getting home till now, she realised at the same time that she had little chance of making it all the way across town in such bad conditions. She looked up at him, she was worried and a little scared, and it was plainly evident in her eyes "how the heck do I get home in this lot? I have to go right across to the other side of the city."

He knew the only thing he could do was to take her with him to his place, it was not a choice he had to make, it had been made for him by nature, "I only live a short distance away, you should come home with me until we can sort something out for you," was the best way he could come up with to say what he was thinking.

Just a dozen yards away, across the street from where they stood looking at the fierce snow storm. A snow covered Arthur Weasley entered a battered old phone box, shook himself then picked up the receiver and announced "Arthur Weasley, Minister of magic, here to work." Down in the warmth of the huge reception area of the Ministry. Arthur was met by four of his sons, "any news?" asked George.

"Well it seems someone was definitely doing magic, it registered high on the scale, but when we got there we could find no trace of anyone magical in the area," Arthur informed them.

"So what do you think dad was it them?" Charlie asked, then looked over at his elder brother Bill.

"Do you think they may still be alive?" Bill almost whispered to his father.

"Don't just tell us you don't know dad, we need to know what you think," Fred pleaded as Arthur shook his head.

"Boys its been over two years since the four of them disappeared, I still hope they are alive, but we are no closer to finding them now than we were two years ago," Arthur's shoulders sagged a little more than usual. He was getting fed up with all the disappointments, every bit of magic carried out in the presence of Muggle's was monitored, this time he had gone himself to investigate, but no one at the scene could recall having seen anyone matching any of the descriptions he had given them. It was thought by the Muggle police that the car had just avoided hitting a young woman due to its rear end catching on an old letter box. All the witnesses had told different versions of what had happened. But none of them had seen the young woman with anyone, she had seemed to be alone when she walked from the shop, afterwards she had gotten up and gone about her business.

Fred spoke up "I have a feeling I just can't shake, I just know that they are somewhere near, and I'm going to find them," turning he walked toward the exit, he was joined by George and Charlie.

Bill looked at his father a pleading look in his eye.

"Go, take the rest of the day off, keep an eye on those hot heads," Arthur told him.

Bill chased toward the exit in pursuit of his brothers, he was hoping that Fred's feeling was more than just wishful thinking.

Anthony was apologising for the condition of his flat before they even reached his door. "It's in a real mess, I haven't cleaned or anything, been a bit depressed, few days, done nothing," he gave up muttering his random reasons as to why his flat looked like the remains of a bomb site. He opened the door and invited her in; she was polite and never mentioned the mess, though he saw her frown as she looked for something to sit on.

"Just give me a minute," he said, then he started to rush around the room, moving old discarded news papers, shirts socks and other bits and pieces.

The place isn't so bad with the rubbish taken away, she told herself as she moved a piece of dried pizza from a chair and sat down. She was relieved to be out of the foul weather outside, she was about to remove her coat when she noticed that her breath was still giving off steam as she exhaled. It made her realise that it was as cold in his flat as it had been in the street.

Having finished rushing around moving his rubbish, and stowing his clothes in the bedroom, he joined her in the living room; the only other room to his flat was a small bathroom just off the kitchen area. The kitchen was made up of a sink and a small cupboard with a small two ring electric cooker placed on top of it, all of which was hidden by a scruffy old curtain in the corner of the small living room.

She sat huddled in the only comfortable chair he possessed while he sat in the only other chair, a straight backed kitchen chair that wobbled as he moved. Noticing the cold of his home and realising they were still freezing, he fetched some of the old newspapers and a small bucket of coal from behind the kitchen curtain. Sitting on the floor in front of her he pulled an old flattened cardboard box from the wall, revealing a small fire place.

Five minutes later, after several failed attempts he had a nice fire started. As it slowly began to give out some heat they both moved their chairs a little closer. They sat in silence and watched as the flames grew. As the room began to warm up, he took off his flimsy coat, revealing the fact he was only wearing a short sleeved shirt, his arms had a tinge of blue in them. She stared feeling sorry for him as he began to rub some warmth into them. Then he removed his shoes and socks, rubbed his feet then dangled them in front of the flames. She gasped as he held his feet in front of the fire. Turning to look at her he suddenly felt embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hog the fire," he said moving backward.

"It's not that, I just remembered seeing you do that before, it was the first really vivid memory I have had for ages," she told him.

They both sat quiet while what she had said sank in to their minds, eventually he spoke up. "Then we must know each other, it stands to reason, I mean I know that I have dreamt about you so often. I also know that the memories of those dreams, nightmares actually, are vague and unclear but I know it was you, I just know it," he looked at her wondering what she was thinking.

He did not have to wait long before she replied, "Well that flash of memory I just had was so vivid, you were a lot younger but it was definitely you, I would say we knew each other in a different lifetime but I don't believe in that sort of thing," she snuggled down into the chair, she needed to think.

It was soon after this when he put the remaining coal on the fire, "Well that wont last very long," he grumbled.

They both had similar thoughts that involved the fire remaining warm and cosy through the night, though she would never have admitted to wanting to stay so long. He got up and walked over to the window, looking out he sighed. "I think that the weather is getting worse, if that's at all possible," he commented.

She joined him at the window and together they watched the snow fall thick and heavy. Some where just outside was a street light, though they could not see it, just the faint glow that penetrated the snowy darkness that now seemed to have cut them off from the world outside, the light glowed eerily through the swirling white snow.

Mumbling embarrassedly he said "looks like you might have to stay the night, I best go make up the bed, and fetch a blanket in here."

She blushed but nodded, she somehow knew he was a gentleman and she could trust him. A few minutes later he had changed the sheets on the bed thanking his lucky stars that he had a spare set; they had been a prize in a local raffle. Walking back into the living room he nodded at the chair she was sat in, "I'll take the chair you can take the bed, sorry I don't have a hot water bottle or anything."

She looked at him and knew that he really was sorry that he was offering her a bed for the night in what was a very cold bedroom. He explained about his heating boiler not working and that he did not yet have the money to pay for repairs, he was slightly taken back with his own honesty, after all it's not usually the thing to do, tell a girl you just met you are broke.

Outside under the street light the Weasley brothers discussed how they were going to trace the young woman who had had such a narrow escape from a nasty accident. "I have heard that some Muggle shop keepers have a camera that records who entered or left their shop. I wonder if dad thought to check them out," Bill told the others.

After a short debate they decided that as soon as the Muggle shops were shut they would apparate into any that had a view of where the accident happened and try to find the device for recording.

"We need specialist help on this," Charlie remarked "and I know just the person for the job."

Five minutes later the brothers had all apparated to different places in search of Mundungus Fletcher. Once found they would persuade him to help them. Fred and George reckoned they had enough on him to enlist his help with out problems.

The two of them chatted about all kinds of things till some time just before midnight, she yawned and he realised that they had both had a long day. Getting up he led her to the bedroom, showed her where the light switch was and even pointed out that the door had a lock if she needed it. He bid her good night then went back into the living room and attempted to get comfortable in the armchair, just a minute later she was asking about the bathroom, she said she needed to wash up.

'_Shame I don't have a toothbrush'_ she thought as she opened the bathroom door and as though he had read her mind he called to her.

"There are some spare tooth brushes in the cabinet, I bought a batch at the charity shop."

Ten minutes later she wished him goodnight once more and closed the bedroom door, he did not hear the lock click and was pleased she trusted him. It took him a long time to fall asleep; getting comfortable and keeping warm in front of the now dead fire with only a single blanket was not easy.

She climbed into the cold bed still wearing some of her clothes; she had no other choice she told herself. She was not going to sleep in just her underwear, oh she trusted him but thought that, if for any reason she had to get up in the middle of the night, she did not want to wander around nearly naked. The fresh clean sheets were freezing cold making her shiver for the first few minutes. Five minutes later however she had warmed up and she was drifting off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 3

A night together

She woke with a start, the room was in total darkness, wondering where she was, she looked around for something familiar, then it came to her and she remembered where she was, she remembered the dream she had been having, quickly she made some mental notes of all she could remember about it, thinking about the tall handsome man in the next room, she felt that she had to tell him, and right now, even though it was the middle of the night.

Reaching over she found the light switch and flicked it on, the sudden burst of light made her screw up her eyes tightly, "damn!" she said as she placed a hand over her closed eyes, then she slowly opened her fingers allowing the light to slowly be revealed through them, letting herself get accustomed to the light slowly. Reaching down for her shoes she found they were still soaking wet and freezing cold, a thin film of ice had formed on them, carrying them and her other things with her she crept into the living room, she saw him huddled into the armchair, taking a seat on the hard kitchen chair next to him, she watched him as he tossed and turned in his sleep.

It was just a few seconds later she saw him shivering, realising that he had only the one thin blanket, she scolded him under her breath, '_you should have taken some from the bed, oh you silly man'_, she leant forward and shook him gently.

"Just be a second Luna," he said in his asleep,

She shook him once more just a little harder, he woke with a yell, calling out "Ginny!" then looked around him in a daze, it took several seconds for him to register where he was, he looked up at her "Luna what are you doing here?" he asked before realising her name was not the one he had used. He tried to apologise for calling her the wrong name then found he could not remember the name he had used just a few seconds before, he swore quietly, then stared at her, she was looking totally shocked.

She leant back from him, "That's not possible, it's just not possible, there is no way," she looked at the surprise on his face as she spoke.

"What did I do, did I frighten you, I am sorry, I was having a dream, it wasn't a nightmare this time, it was just a pleasant dream, sorry if I scared you," he said watching her face lit by the beam of light streaming in from the bedroom.

She reached over and touched his hand, she was about to reassure him he had not scared her but instead she noticed how cold he felt, she held his hand so that she could see it in the light from the bedroom, it was very pale and turning blue, his arm was the same.

"We should get you warmed up a little, you may have a touch of hypothermia," she said looking suddenly worried.

"Isn't that what old folks get?" he asked looking perplexed.

"Any one can get it if they get cold for to long, come on I think you need to be tucked up in the bed," she took his hand and helped him to his feet.

Unsteady on his shaky legs he allowed himself be led to the bedroom, she insisted he lie down and get warm, then having made sure he was well covered, she returned to the living room for the remaining blanket.

When she reached the bed to place the blanket on top she saw him shivering violently, she quickly threw the blanket on the top then lifted the covers and climbed in with him, as she did so she snuggled up close to him, wrapping herself around every part of him she could, he found himself thinking how strange it was, he should have been ecstatic, elated even, having a beautiful woman wrapped around him in bed, but this felt so normal, as though he had spent years like this, he had no intention of spoiling it all by saying or doing anything stupid, so he lay there and simply enjoyed her presence and warmth.

She had seen it done in TV programs, when someone was freezing it helped them to warm up by having someone share their body heat with them, she never gave a thought to the intimacy of it all, until his shivering began to slow and he started to warm up, she then thought about the fact that they were practically strangers, but she knew that being together was the way it was meant to be, still she surprised herself with how bold she had been to get into bed with him.

As he warmed up they parted slightly and began to talk about the dreams they had had, she told him how she had dreamt they were at a boarding school, not a normal one but one where they were taught magic, she also told him that she had a different name in her dream, she had not been called Susan, she had been called Luna, the very name he used when she woke him. He was finding it all hard to accept, yet he knew it was true, after all it was not exactly a common name, 'Luna', he knew that somehow they were very close, he even felt they may have been in love at some time, but did not mention this idea to her.

She went on to tell him that her best girl friend in her dream had been his sister Ginny, the last name he had called out as he woke up, she missed out the part about him being her husband. "We should talk about this some more in the morning," she said stifling a yawn, "would you mind if I slept here with you? It's much warmer than using that chair."

He obviously did not mind and said so, she turned over placing her back toward him then she shuffled back till her back was pressed warmly up against him, with out thinking he wrapped his arms around her and together they fell asleep.

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The Weasley brothers appeared from the green flames that filled the fire place in the Burrow, all began talking at once, Fred yelled up the stairs "We saw them," waking his parents.

Arthur and Molly Weasley came rushing down in their night clothes, both indifferent to what the boys thought; "Did we hear you correctly?" asked Molly excitement rising in her voice.

"It was them mum, well two of them, we saw them on one of those Muggle telebitions." George was saying "we only saw Luna, but she was definitely with someone, we could tell."

"Thank the heavens for that, I don't suppose you know where they were going or where they went?" Arthur asked,

"No but we do know that she came out of the unemployment office, and Dung said Muggle's have to visit once every two weeks, if they are living as Muggle's we should be able to get all the information from there," Bill replied.

"Dad you could call in there in the morning, see what they know, we can come with you," George was excited, he had been and still was, deeply in love with his almost adopted sister Hermione, though he would never let anyone know, she loved his surrogate little brother and he was content just to know she was happy, she was the reason he had never married. Early the following morning Arthur ordered a squad of Aurors to find and question all the staff who had been on duty at the unemployment office the previous day.

Kingsley Shacklebolt head of the Auror office was amazed as he questioned the receptionist; she had stopped looking at those who entered the office several years previously, having decided that they were all just scroungers, and she had no interest in those kinds of people, Kingsley pointed out to her that most of them were just ordinary folk like her who were looking for the chance of finding a job, he reassured her that the money they received was insufficient to live on, and it was not best the way to enjoy life.

The Aurors travelled in the guise of Muggle police, visiting and interviewing the staff one at a time, getting the same negative response from most of them, it was when they found a clerk, who had at one time not so long ago been unemployed himself, that they finally started to get the information they needed.

"I gave them both an application form for the same job, though I don't think they knew each other," he told them

"So you know where they went?" Kingsley asked

"I can do better than tell you where they went, if you give me a little time, I can tell you where they live, give you the addresses," the young man replied offering to find them the information as soon as the office opened and he could get in to work, with out hesitation Kingsley grabbed the mans coat and gave it to him to put on, then in a flash and with a small popping noise they were standing in the office at the clerks desk. Shocked the young man looked around wondering how the policeman had done that, then deciding it must be some new fantastic secret machine the police had, after a ten minute search he had found the required addresses and handed them over, one quick memory charm later and the young clerk was congratulating himself for being the only one to have arrived early at the office.

The Aurors visited Luna's address first but found no sign that she had been there that morning, collecting all her stuff up and packing it in a conjured chest they then disappeared with a crack.

Arthur and his sons waited impatiently in his office for what seemed to be hours, waiting to hear word of the missing couples, Kingsley and the other Aurors arrived and gave them the information they needed to find the other flat, leaving the chest containing Luna's possessions along with his report he wished Arthur luck, then he and the Aurors left for a well deserved breakfast.

Arthur, Molly, Fred, George, Charlie and Bill, all read the directions, then with loud pops they were gone, it was just seconds later they stood on the pavement looking up at the building in front of them, they could see through the snow that it was just like most of the buildings in the area, run down and near ready for demolition. They walked slowly but excitedly through the entrance door and entered the stairwell; it was not long before they were standing out side the door of the flat they were in search of.

Listening carefully at the door for a while, they determined that no danger lay behind it, it just sounded like two muffled voices having a conversation, "Are you all ready?" Arthur asked, "We go on three- one, two, three," a series of cracks echoed through the stairwell as they all vanished.

Anthony woke up in the same position he had fallen asleep, he felt her warm body next to him, then he realised a part of him had woken before the rest, so feeling a little embarrassed he moved backward a little.

She was already awake and was feeling really comfortable, she had made no attempt to move away from him even though she could feel the lump in her lower back, instead she had listened to his gentle breathing, feeling his chest as it alternatively pressed gently into her back then relaxed, she had no memories of ever being this close to a man before, but it felt right, she felt she was where she should be, where she belonged. Sensing the change in him, then feeling him move back slightly, she smiled to her self, then she slowly got up from the bed, venturing into the cold living room, knowing he was watching her every move, she suddenly wished she had kissed him, but put the thought out of her mind as she looked at the ice that coated the inside of the living room window, she walked over and switched on the two rings of the small electric cooker.

He watched as she got out of the bed, she was decidedly beautiful he thought as he watched her enter the other room, he lay there for quite a while trying to understand all that was happening, he had spent the night with a beautiful woman and had done no more than hold her tight, he had been happy just being with her. He waited till the embarrassing bulge in his pants was gone, then he walked into the living room, immediately he felt the warmth from the cooker, she was about to cook some food for them, he chuckled when he saw two pairs of shoes hanging just above where she stood, their coats were hung over the curtain and they were drying in the rising heat from the cooker.

She bought two plates of bacon and eggs over and placed them on the small coffee table along side the pot of tea she had made, "I hope you don't mind me cooking, I just thought you might be hungry," she said as she returned to his cupboard in search of bread.

Glancing at the window he saw it was still snowing heavily, '_ah good, trapped by the weather'_ he thought as he watched the swirling white mass. Enjoying the breakfast, they talked about the previous nights events, discussing the dreams and what they might mean, they were still talking about it as they washed up the dishes.

"In my dream if I needed a fire I just pointed my wand at the fire place like this and said incendio and…" before she had finished the fire flared into life, she dropped the dish she was washing as he dropped his lower jaw.

"How the heck did that…?" he looked at her, "you don't think we are?" he fell silent it was to silly to contemplate.

Both of them were staring at the fire when they were almost scared out of their wits by a series of loud cracks and the sudden appearance of several red haired people.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 4

To St Mungo's

"What the hell?" Ron called out as he threw himself between Susan and the people who had appeared, "where the heck did you come from?"

A red haired woman squeezed her way through what were obviously her sons, and, with her arms open wide she launched herself at him, tears flowed down her face as she silently mouthed indecipherable words to him, the hug she gave him almost stopped him breathing, it definitely made his mind stop working, a moment later the woman had grabbed Susan and was once again hugging with force enough to prevent the recipient from breathing, As he stood dumbfounded by what was happening, the men who had arrived began to hug him; all had tears in their eyes.

Then Ron stood face to face with the eldest of the group, "Ron, my son, thank heaven we found you at last," the older man was saying as he too gave a bone crushing hug.

Getting back control of his faculties Ron asked "Who the hell are you people, where did you come from?" As he finished saying this he remembered his thoughts just before this strange interruption, "magic, I knew it, so Susan really is named Luna," he gasped and dropped back into the chair.

Arthur called for his family to calm down, "They have had a memory charm placed on them, we should all sit down and explain things to them."

Molly looked around the crowded little room, her eyes finally resting on the two chairs, "This could take a while, I'll need a little help Arthur," she said as she pulled her wand from her pocket.

Arthur waved his wand and the room grew too twice its normal size while Molly conjured up some very comfortable looking armchairs, Fred waved his wand at the fire place and nodded in satisfaction as it increased in size, the fire it self was suddenly laden with logs and was burning brightly, George conjured up some cups and a large pot of fresh tea while Charlie conjured breakfast and a table to put it all on.

Shocked by all that was happening around them Ron and Luna held each other tight as they sat together on one of the chairs. Luna was a little more shocked than he was, simply because they had only known each other since yesterday and yet he had placed himself between her and any potential danger, her heart lifted at the thought, then the thought that she now wished she had kissed him entered her mind. She forced the vision of a kiss she was enjoying from her mind as the elder man began to speak.

"We are your family Ron, we have been searching for you for two long years, eighteen months ago we finally caught Draco Malfoy, he told us that the four of you were being punished for what you did to his family, he boasted of having wiped your memories and left you penniless and alone to live as Muggle's, we had no idea where you were till yesterday when we received reports of magic with your magical signature, being performed, we sent investigators out and with the help of your brothers we found you."

"Do I have a family?" Luna asked finding it all hard to take in.

"Yes, yes indeed, we will inform your father as soon as we get you to St Mungo's," Arthur had a huge smile as he continued, "as our daughter in law we had to keep your dad informed of all possible sightings etc."

"Daughter in law, am I married then, who to?" Luna gasped as she looked around praying they would say the man she had spent the night with.

"Why Ron of course," Molly answered her.

No wonder it felt so normal and right lying in bed with him, she thought as she looked at Ron, he squeezed her fingers gently he too knew it had been right for them to be together. "Excuse me, I take it you are my father, did you say there were four of us, this Malfoy person did something too?" Ron asked

"That's right you and your wife Luna, Your best friend Harry and his wife Hermione your other best friend," Arthur told him

"Hermione, that's one of the names you said in your sleep before I woke you," Luna said

"Have you been remembering, if you have that's wonderful news, it means Malfoy did not do a very good job with the memory charm, that gives us a good chance of restoring you, get your memories back fairly quickly," Molly said the smile on her face hiding the tear streaks.

"Do you know where the other two are, Hermione and did you say Harry?" Ron asked.

"No son, not yet we have heard nothing about them yet," Arthur's face fell into a frown, "but we will find them, we found you, we'll find them."

"Do you have a photo of them?" Luna asked.

"As a matter of fact I have one," Fred said speaking for the first time since arriving. He pulled out the photo and handed it to her; Ron looked at it with her then said "Well I'll be blowed."

"Something we should know little brother?" Bill asked a little surprised at Ron's reaction.

All eyes in the room fell on him as he sat holding onto Luna, she in turn stared at him, and he was after all still a stranger to her even if they were married, Ron took the photo and watched as the tiny figures of Harry and Hermione waltzed carefree around the picture.

"I remember taking this, don't remember where or when, even more astonishing that young lady dancing, she served me at the hyper market day before yesterday, I thought at the time she reminded me of someone then I saw my wind blown reflection in the window and decided it was something to do with her bushy hair."

"Do you remember where? It's important Ron," Molly almost whispered, as though speaking out would make him forget.

"Yes, because I only had money enough for potatoes, thought I could do some baked with a few beans or something, she let me have them even though I was a few pence short," Ron went on to tell them the location of the shop.

Bill and Charlie were on their feet even before Ron had finished speaking, "I know that area quite well dad," Bill said as they moved toward the door, "me too," Charlie grinned as he joined his elder brother,

"Well you two just be careful, we don't want any Muggle's frightened," Molly told them just before they disappeared,

"I hope they can find Hermione, the shop is likely to be closed in this kind of weather," George sounded just a little doubtful as he looked out of the window.

Arthur stood up "Right you two we should get you over to St Mungo's, they should be able to help you there, we will have to go side along, Ron you take my arm and hold on tight, Luna you take hold of Molly, don't let go what ever you do."

"St Mungo's, what is a St Mungo's?" Ron wanted to know before he would take hold of anyone.

"St Mungo's is the Wizarding hospital, that's where you need to go to get your memory restored," Molly told them.

Luna nodded to Ron as she stepped forward and took hold of Molly's arm, George took hold of Luna's free arm and with a loud crack they were gone, Ron starring at the space where they had been standing just a second before, decided if she was brave enough then he should be too, he took hold of the arm offered by Arthur and linked arms with Fred, a few terrifying seconds later and he was standing next to Luna in the reception hall of the hospital for magical ailments and maladies.

Bill and Charlie appeared in what would have been a quiet corner of a car park with a pop, a quick look around verified George's doubts, there was not a single car to be seen, the snow was still falling and they could just make out the building across the white field that had just a few hours ago been a black tarmac car park covered in all types of cars. Together they made their way to the shop front; there they found the usual note on the door 'Closed due to the adverse weather'

Bill was about to apparate when Charlie spoke, "There must be someone here, how else do we account for the note, they won't have left it yesterday because they would not have know what it would be like today."

Bill agreed that Charlie might well be correct and decided they should try around the back, to see if any doors were open, it was not long before they were walking through the deserted store calling out, 'is anybody here'

A grey haired old man in a boiler suit came from a room just in front of them, "Sorry gents, I'll have to ask you to leave, you are not allowed in here, the shop is closed you know, can't have Joe public wandering around."

Bill approached the man and gave a courteous bow, "Sorry to intrude sir, but we are looking for our sister-in-law, she works here, we wondered if she had arrived for work today? Slim with bushy brown hair, amazingly clever."

The old man looked at the two red haired young men facing him, "You must mean Sarah, she was here but I sent her home, she was the only one to turn up this morning."

"Could you tell us where it is she lives now? You see sir, we have not seen her for two years and she no longer lives at her old house," Charlie asked almost pleading.

"I haven't got a clue," the old man answered "but!" he said as he saw the great look of disappointment on their faces, "I could take a look in the office, see if they have her address there."

"Would you like us to wait outside sir?" Bill asked politely

The old man took a liking to the two younger men, he liked the fact that they showed some respect and were very polite, a thing he did not see very often these days. "No you can wait in my room if you want," the older man said showing them into the care takers room, the one he had just come from, he then left them and went to look in the main office.

At St Mungo's Ron and Luna, had been given a private room, it seemed everyone treated them, 'as Ron put it' as though they were famous pop stars. Five minutes after they had been given the room an elderly woman entered knocking quietly on the open door.

"Hello I am the head healer, Jennings is the name, I am told that you have been on the receiving end of a bad memory charm, tell me my dears do you remember anything at all?" healer Jennings smiled at them and curtseyed as though in the presence of royalty.

Though both Ron and Luna were baffled by their treatment, they told healer Jennings all about how they had met and all that had happened, except the part about sleeping together. Healer Jennings seemed quite pleased as she took notes on what they told her, her face changed from one with a worried look to one with a rather pleasant smile.

"We should have you back to normal in less than a week I think," she told them "now I just have to go and make up a potion for you, I will be back later," with that she left them, her robes swishing as she left the room.

Ron and Luna sat on one of the two beds in the room; they were looking at each other and both wore a look of total disbelief, reaching out his hand Ron took Luna's hand in his. "Well what ever happens I won't be letting you down this time, and that's a promise," he told her as he squeezed her small hand gently.

They were just getting used to their surroundings when a man rushed in to the room, "Luna sweetheart!" called the man as he rushed to Luna's side and hugged her.

"You're Luna's dad, I can tell, I can see the family likeness," Ron said a sort of relief in his tone of voice.

Molly Weasley then entered the room and after friendly hugs all round, she began to tell Mr Lovegood what had befallen his daughter and the good news that they should be back to their normal selves within a week. Ron was feeling better by the minute, he was warm, he had a comfortable bed and he was sharing a room with his wife, even if he did not know her yet, he was beginning to enjoy his visit to St Mungo's.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 5

The café.

Mumbling under her breath just how much she now hated snow, Sarah struggled through the cold deep snow, her feet were freezing and the snow was building up on her coat as the strong wind blew it at her back, wishing she had never left the house this morning she cursed as she was heading back to her home, a house she shared with two other girls, she was not at all happy having walked into work just to be sent home again. What made it worse was that her two house mates had insisted she was wasting her time and that she should stay home, they were bound to have a good laugh at her expense, with quite a few I told you so thrown in. Half way home she saw a small café with it's lights on, wondering if it were open she tried the door, as it opened a small bell tinkled somewhere in the back, bringing a young dark haired man to the counter.

"Morning," he said brightly "sorry I don't have any food ready yet, but I just made the tea if you want a cup while you wait."

Sarah stared at him, thinking how cheerful looking he was despite the fact the place was empty, she ordered a pot of tea and took a seat near to the window, looking around her she thought just how odd it was to be living in one of the biggest capital cities in the world and yet she could not see another soul anywhere, '_bloody snow'_ she said quietly.

The young man looked up from what ever he was doing "Sorry did you say something?" he asked.

She looked at him then back out of the window "No, just that I don't like this snow."

"Oh ok," he said returning to what he had been doing, five minutes later he informed her that he had enough food ready if she wanted anything. She had not thought about food up till then, having only entered to the café to warm up and get out of the snow. She ordered a small breakfast of egg bacon beans and toast, thinking that at least she would have a good reason to stay while she got warm.

It was as she finished her last piece of toast that the door opened, and the bell tinkled, looking toward the door she saw a hunched hooded man, his back to her as he was kicking the snow off his boots before entering, then shaking the snow from his hood he straightened up and took his coat off and turned toward the counter. The sight of him caught her breath; he was tall and bespeckled with the most amazing emerald green eyes, she had trouble taking her eyes off him as he walked across the room. The other young man came in from the kitchen wiping his wet hands on a towel.

"Morning Pete, enjoy your walk?" he asked of the new comer.

"Yes, I just love the snow, sort of reminds me of a happy place I was at some time in my past," the man named Pete answered.

Sarah suddenly thought of a picturesque castle nestling on a snow covered back ground, a whole bunch of children were playing and having snowball fights as she watched a heavy book on her lap, the thought was so realistic and vivid she was surprised by it and dropped her fork. Both the young men turned to look at her as she, red faced looked on as the utensil bounced, she started to bend down to pick it up, then she stopped bending with a grunt as her head collided with the green eyed young stranger.

"Sorry," he said as he finished bending down to retrieve the fork, he rubbed at his head as he looked her in the eye, "I'll get you a fresh one," he said not moving.

"No its ok I have finished eating," she felt her self going red again under his stare.

He just stood there looking at her with those amazing green eyes, she felt warm all over, though she had no idea why. After what seemed an age to her, he reached out and lifted her empty plates, then with repeated glances over his shoulder he took the plates into the back where she thought the kitchen to be. He was only gone a few seconds before he returned, "Can I buy you a coffee or tea?" he asked looking across at her.

She looked at her now empty cup, she had already drunk more than she usually did but found her self nodding her head and saying tea thank you, while he filled another pot she stood up and looked around, she saw the door she needed and walked into the ladies rest room. '_What the hell was I thinking'_ she thought as she finished up washing her hands, she peered into the mirror and saw that her hair was in a real mess, it had become wet and straggly from the covering of snow that it had been covered with, and it looked as though she had not bothered to brush it for days, taking out her brush she was about to start brushing it, then thought '_he's going to think I did it for him, hope he doesn't get the wrong idea'_ she shrugged her shoulders and carried on with brushing as best she could.

He was sat at her table when she returned from the rest room, the warm smile on his face lit up his eyes, uncertain as to why she had taken such a quick liking to him, she made her way to the table and sat opposite him. A huge smile lit his face as she sat down, he liked the look of this pleasant bushy haired young woman, he had no idea where he had got the nerve to speak to her from, usually he was nervous around women never sure what to say or how to behave, so he tried to stay clear of them. He looked into her deep brown eyes and something inside him told him this is the one, this is the one you have been waiting for all your life. All his insecurities and shyness left him as he looked at her; he no longer had a nervous feeling, with her he felt strangely comfortable like he could tell her anything with out fear of her laughing or thinking him silly, holding out his hand he spoke.

"Hello my name is Peter but my mates call me Pete," he said.

She took his hand "Sarah," she said as they shook hands.

They chatted for quite some time starting with chat about the appalling weather, she told him about her work and her house mates, how she seemed to have been the only one to have tried to get in to work. While he told her how he had been left a little money by his old land lady, he went on to tell her how he had spent half a year looking after the old lady as she slowly succumbed to cancer, and how with that money he and his friend had started up this café.

She looked at her watch, it was just after midday, they had been talking for ages, the snow continued to fall and the street was still empty of people all that is except for an oddly dressed lady who was making her way toward the café from across the street. The old woman struggled against the snow, then reaching the door she opened it a little, Sarah watched as the old lady poked her head through the small gap.

"Would you know if there is a telepon box around here?" she asked politely.

Sarah shrugged as Pete said "We have a phone here if you need to use one."

"No, no, no that's alright just looking for a telepon box," the old lady said.

Pete rubbed his head as the old lady pulled back from the doorway, then she stopped, her mouth gaping wide, she thrust her head back into the same position she had taken before, her eyes were wide as though in shock.

"Mr. Potter?" she asked

"Sorry nobody named Potter here," Pete answered,

"Are you sure?" the old lady said as she stared at him.

"Quite sure dear," Pete answered with his friendly smile "are you sure you don't want to use our phone?"

The old ladies eyes were now squinting as she walked toward them, "Could I just…?" she said as she pushed aside Pete's hair from his forehead, she gasped before asking "will you be here long young man?"

Pete found her just a little odd but his smile never faded, '_after all_ he thought _you can get all sorts of odd balls in a café'_

"I should be here all day my dear," he said politely.

"Ah good, very good," the old lady said before rushing out of the door.

Sarah and Pete watched her leave, then turned to look at each other, they burst out laughing, which bought the other young man from the kitchen. "What on earth is so funny?" he asked as he came around the counter.

"Just an old lady Jeff, she was looking for a telephone," said Pete

"Actually she was asking for a telepon box," Sarah said and burst into giggles again.

"I was sort of hoping it was some one come about the job," Jeff said as he turned back to the kitchen.

"If I have to interview anybody else unsuitable, I shall have to scream," Pete called after him.

****

Arthur had just returned from St Mungo's when there was a thunderous knocking on his door, his secretary he could hear was almost yelling at someone.

"The Minister has only just returned, I am afraid he can not be disturbed."

"I need to see him now, it's most urgent," a woman's voice almost screamed.

Opening his door Arthur was almost hit in the face as a frantic looking Jemima Readingbrooke resisted the attempts of his secretary to pull her from his door.

"What ever is the matter, Jem?" Arthur asked as he nodded for his secretary to let her enter.

"Arthur, I just saw him, Mr. Potter, I actually touched him," she gasped as she collapsed on to a chair.

"Are you sure you did not make a mistake, was it definitely Harry?" Arthur asked

"Absolutely positive, I saw the scar, moved his hair myself, thought I was seeing things," she told him.

Arthur quickly went to the door and called out to one of his assistants, "fetch Shacklebolt, quick as you can, please."

Returning to his desk he conjured up two glasses full of an amber liquid and offered one to Jemima "Here you go Jem drop of hot Meade to warm you up."

She took the warming drink with a thank you, as she took a sip she began to explain how she had been slightly lost in the thick snow, and not daring to dissaparate she had made enquiries in a café as to the whereabouts of the telepon box entrance, she finished by saying she had decided it best to use her magic to find her way to the Ministry, after making a note of the street name where the café was.

A knock on the door interrupted them, they both looked up as Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the office, "You want me Minister?" he said as he entered.

"Oh and Arthur he was sitting with a young bushy haired woman who looked a lot like miss Granger," Jemima said, surprising both Arthur and Shacklebolt.

****

Sarah glanced once more at her watch, and though she would like to have stayed talking to this young man for hours but she decided it was time she made her way home, rising from her seat she looked at the disappointment that suddenly entered his eyes.

"Sorry but I should get home now, I hadn't expected to stay so long," she offered her hand to him.

Pete stood, a frown etched on his face, her leaving had not entered his mind as they had talked, in the back of his mind he knew she had to go, but it was the last thing he wanted, feeling at a loss as to what he could say, he took her hand in his and blinked. Holding her hand to wish her goodbye was upsetting him immensely but he did not know why, he wanted to hold her and kiss her rather than let her just leave, '_ask her for a date you fool'_ he told himself even as their hands parted.

"Well bye then, it's been nice talking to you," she said as she reluctantly turned to leave.

'_He's going to let me go'_ she thought, '_well why wouldn't he'_ her head was saying as she reached the door, '_after all you are just a customer, the only one of the day, but a customer just the same'_ she nodded slightly in agreement with her own thoughts as she pulled her collar up and looked out at the still falling snow.

Pete stood watching her walk away till she was hidden by the snow, making his mind up he rushed to where he had hung his coat, grabbing it and quickly putting it on, he rushed to the door, Jeff entered from the kitchen as Pete swung the door open "You off again then?" he called.

"I can't let her go again," Pete called back as he swung the door shut.

He had to catch up with her, there was no way he was going to lose her again, he kept repeating it to himself as he tried to run through the deep snow, it did not take him long to catch sight of her as she crossed the road in front of him, it was then he realized what he had been thinking, what he had been repeating to himself, why did he feel he had lost her before, why was he so convinced he could not lose her again, he was trying to work it out when he caught up to her.

Sarah tramped through the deep snow, head bowed in sadness as much as it was bowed to keep some of the blowing snow from her face, '_I wish he had asked me out, or even asked me back to his café, but all he did was say goodbye, funny I felt like I knew him for years, being together felt so right'_, she thought. A tear trickled down from her eye making her wonder why he should have such an effect on her, then the thought hit her _'I love him, don't be so stupid'_ she told herself '_how can you love someone you don't know',_

The answer came from somewhere hidden in the back of her mind "I do know him," she heard herself say as she turned to cross the street.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 6

Sarah's bedroom

"Do you talk to your self often?" she heard a man's voice say from behind her left shoulder, almost spinning on the spot, she stood face to face with Peter. "Sorry, I know I probably should not have followed you, but I just can't lose you again," Peter said, a sad look in his eyes.

"Does that mean you felt it too?" Sarah gasped.

"I think we should walk a little, it's going to get awful cold just standing here," Peter said looking around at the falling snow.

He held out his hand to her and she happily took it, her sadness left her as soon as she did, they started to walk once again, she linked her arm in his, then with arms linked they walked side by side, Sarah guiding him on the way toward her home. They talked as they walked, Sarah told him just how miserable she had felt after leaving him at the café, while Peter told her about his strange feeling that he had lost her before, they both felt they should be together, but were having trouble when ever they tried to remember if they had ever met before.

"This might sound a little odd, but I feel as though someone has stolen my past," Sarah said as they reached her garden gate.

Peter asked if he could call to see her and maybe take her for a drink the following night, Sarah having agreed took the hand he was offering and they shook hands and said their goodbyes. As Peter turned to walk away, Sarah suddenly reached out and caught his arm, "Don't go, come in, we need to talk more about things."

Sarah led the way into the house, showing Peter to the living room, and made quick introductions to her two house mates before taking his coat and going to hang it to dry along with her own, Sarah's two house mates sat staring at Peter for a few seconds before both jumping up and rushing from the room in pursuit of Sarah. The eldest a girl named Gemma stopped in the door way just long enough to say "Make your self at home."

Sarah was cornered by her two friends who wanted to know all about the tall, dark, man, who now sat, slightly uncomfortably in their living room, "Who is he, he must be special, you never bought a man home before, where did you find him?" Nicky the youngest asked.

"Come on you two, behave yourselves, I promise I will tell you all about it later," Sarah said, as she tried to squeeze past them. Gemma offered to make a pot of tea and bring it to them in the living room; Nicky announced that she had to go upstairs just to tidy up. Sarah knew she was not going to get too much time to talk to him about the things that were on her mind; never the less she thought '_I just have to ask him a few things'_, with that thought she walked back into the living room.

Peter looked around the room he had been left in, it was not quite as tidy as he might have expected from three young women, but then he thought that the last thing they would be expecting on a day like today was a visitor, this would account for the bra's and other various pieces of underwear, that were hung on a clothes maid in front of a huge fire. Plus there was a large pile of other clothes that sat on the couch, in front of which stood a very old and battered looking ironing board, an assortment of shoes lined the hearth, undoubtedly drying out from being out in the snow. He took a seat in one of the two armchairs that flanked the fireplace, trying hard not to look at the underwear in front of him, he tried looking at the pictures that adorned the walls, it did not take long to notice that only two of the girls had their photos hanging, no picture of Sarah was anywhere to be seen.

Over in the left corner of the room, a small TV was showing the weather forecast, the announcer had just finished saying that there did not appear to be any break in the bad weather until after the weekend. A small writing desk sat in the other corner, from the look of it; it was used to store old news papers. His eyes drifted to the shelf above the fire place, a large very old mirror hung above it, several pairs of frilly panties hung along the shelf edge, each held in place by an odd mixture of ornaments. The two ornaments in the middle he somehow knew were Sarah's, one was a small statue of a wizard, the other was a much larger ornamental owl, he had no idea how or why, he associated her with these two items but they just seemed to fit. Finally he dropped his gaze down to his hands and concentrated on not looking at anything else.

Sarah came into the room slowly, watching him as he tried to keep his gaze from the underwear display, she found it mildly amusing, and for an instant gave a quick thought to staying where she was and just watching him, she then remembered that her friends would probably come barging in at any moment. She walked over and lifted the clothes maid and quietly deposited it behind the couch, '_out of sight out of mind'_ she thought, hurrying back she quickly removed the items lining the shelf and stuffed them beneath the pile of clothes on the couch. Taking the seat opposite him, she suddenly had a picture in her mind of a large fire place, she was sat on the floor, leaning back between his legs a book in her hands, a funny little creature stoked up the fire, as Peter played with her hair. The picture faded as quickly as it had appeared, sitting there with him in front of the fire, she some how knew they had done this before, she also knew it had been real and not a dream, she let out a little gasp, as once again a memory quickly flitted through her minds eye, she saw him sitting in an arm chair playing a game of chess with a red haired man, one she had seen recently if she could just remember where.

Peter watched her as she moved the offending items out of sight, thankful she had said nothing about them, he let his gaze follow her as she moved, he felt odd because he had the feeling he had watched her doing housework many times, it was as she sat down that he had a picture flash into his mind, she was serving dinner around a large kitchen table, she was the only one there apart from him that did not have red hair, she kept glancing at him and smiling, then the picture faded and he was back watching her as she suddenly looked shocked. He was about to ask her what was wrong when the two other occupants of the house appeared amidst a clatter of crockery, Sarah introduced her friends again, Gemma and Nicky, then took the tray from Gemma and looked at the door, turning back to her friends she gave them a get lost look, but it was totally wasted on them, as they both took a seat on the couch and stared at Peter.

As they all sat in silence each waiting to see who spoke first, Nicky absent mindedly picked up a flimsy see through top, it was a deep sapphire blue colour, she folded it carefully as Peter watched her, a small film suddenly played in his mind, he was watching Sarah slowly removing the blue top revealing a white bra, which she undid extremely slowly as though teasing him, it was then he noticed a small mole high on her right thigh in a very private area, he remembered her telling him, he had been the only one to see it apart from her mother. The film in his mind stopped suddenly making him shake his head in disbelief, he told himself there was no way that he had actually seen what he had just seen in his head, it was wishful thinking he knew this gorgeous woman intimately, yet he still could not remember ever having met her before.

Sarah looked at Peter, who looked to her as though he were having a day dream, wondering what he was thinking she said "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Is there anywhere private?" he mouthed to her as he concealed his face from the other girls.

Without a word Sarah got up and taking his hand she led him from the room, the look she gave her friends as she left told them not to follow. Peter followed as they entered her bedroom to see it was well kept and very tidy, she had small set of drawers along side a single bed, long golden drapes hung at the window, to the left of the bed stood a hard back chair, the only things on the shiny wooden floor were two small pieces of red carpet, one lay along side the bed, while the other was spread below the chest of draws. Peter realized he could not remember ever having been in a girls bedroom before, but he knew he must have been, how else could he account for the memories that kept flashing through his mind, memories that vanished as soon as he tried to hang on to them. He walked across the room and sat on the chair; Sarah walked over and sat down on the bed facing him.

"Can I ask you some thing really personal? I don't want you to get the wrong idea, I just need to ask," Peter said his face turning red.

Sarah grinned, she had known for certain he would blush once they were in her bedroom, "Ask away, Peter, if I think it is offensive I will obviously refuse to answer," she told him.

Peter took a good deep breath, but unable to help himself, he just blurted it out "Do you have a mole on your right thigh very close to your…" he managed to stop himself from saying anything else.

Sarah stared at him for a long time, making him feel very uncomfortable, just when he was thinking he had blown everything, she began to nod, "How the heck did you know that? It can only be seen when I am nake…" she stopped as she realized he must have actually seen her naked.

"When, how, where?" she asked slightly astonished.

"I don't know, I just remember you telling me, I was the only one apart from your mother who had ever seen it," Peter replied.

A silence fell between them as she thought about what he had said, the quiet was disturbed by noises coming from down stairs, then there came the sound of heavy foot steps on the stair.

The knock on the door came as a surprise making them both jump; "Come in," she called. The door opened and there framed in the doorway stood a total stranger.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 7

Charlie gets a date.

Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived outside the café with a loud crack, he was not in the least worried about revealing himself in this weather, he was tired, fed up, cold and wet, he hated working in the snow, he hated how it soaked into his clothes and boots, just seeing snow made him feel cold through to the bone, he longed to be at home in front of the fire with his family, but he had a job to do. Opening the door he walked into the café hoping that those he sought were still there, one quick look around told him he was to late. Jeff walked in from the back room, happy to receive another customer he slung the tea towel he held over his shoulder, "Can I help you sir?" he asked.

Kingsley nodded and strode over to the counter, "You had a young bushy haired lady here a short while ago, she was sitting with a young man, black hair bright green eyes."

Jeff nodded, just a little warily he asked "Why are you looking for them?"

"Well I have a very important message for her from her father," Kingsley replied.

"Ah, well they left a few minutes ago, the girl left first, but my mate Pete chased after her, I think he fancied asking her for a date," Jeff was saying when Kingsley interrupted him.

"Do you know where they went? It is rather important," Kingsley asked as politely as he could.

"The young lady said she was going home, so I suppose Pete will walk with her, make sure she gets there safe," Jeff nodded toward the door, as though to let Kingsley know about the direction they had taken.

Kingsley left swearing at his bad luck, and hoping that Arthur would send someone else to Hermione's house, arriving back at the ministry he was just in time to see Bill and Charlie Weasley about to leave. "Hold it you two, you might be needed," he shouted across the foyer.

Bill and Charlie both turned to see who was shouting and why, seeing Kingsley they rushed over to him, in answer to his urgent beckoning. Kingsley did not wait for them to reach him; instead he strode as fast as he could toward the Minister's office. The door opened a second before he knocked, Arthur was just about to leave, he was finished for lunch and was feeling extremely tired, he felt a lot older than his age. The work getting the Wizarding world back to some semblance of what was considered normal was going well after nearly three years hard work, Arthur could now see the end in sight. Peace was now well established and all known death eaters had been caught or killed, his policy of zero tolerance to crime, and severe sentences for those caught offending, was beginning to bite, no serious crimes had been reported for over a two month period. Seeing his old friend standing right there in front of him, his fist raised, made Arthur step back.

"Arthur I am so glad I caught you, I was at the address you gave me, but our couple had left, I managed to find out that they left together and were headed toward Hermione's home," Kingsley said, he then went on to relate word for word what Jeff had told him.

Arthur beckoned his sons into his office after thanking Kingsley and ordering him to go home to his wife and get a well deserved rest. Bill having heard the conversation already had the piece of paper with Hermione's address on it, held out to his father, "This is where we need to go," he commented as he handed it over. Arthur took out his wand and with a quick flick he had made a copy of the paper, handing the original one back to his son, "Time you two weren't here," he said nodding toward the exit, Bill and Charlie needed no second telling and turned to leave.

"Your mother and I will meet you at Hermione's house in fifteen minutes," Arthur told them as they disappeared through the door. Just ten minutes later Arthur and a rather flustered Molly Weasley met their two eldest sons outside the house that their surrogate daughter lived at. Walking up the small garden path, Bill looked at the front door, its flaking paint and a cracked pane of glass made the house look rather run down and neglected.

Arthur knocked on the door as the other Weasley's gathered around him, after only a short wait the door opened, A young woman about Hermione's age looked out at them, taking in their strange attire she looked at them suspiciously before she asked "Can I help you?"

Arthur removed his pointed hat revealing the remains of a once ginger mop of hair; "I am looking for a young lady by the name of…" he stopped having forgotten the name Hermione was using,

"Sarah, we are looking for Sarah," Charlie told her as his father turned to look for help.

"Well just wait a moment I will see if she is busy," the girl named Gemma said, looking once more at them as though they were crazy, she turned to talk to someone further inside the house before turning back to them and saying.

"Sorry but Sarah is busy, but I will tell her you called."

Molly Weasley's imobilus charm caught Gemma before she could close the door fully, "Sorry dear," Molly said as she pushed past Gemma and entered the house, walking in to the living room the wizard family met Nicky; she was standing in the corner of the room brandishing a large wooden standard lamp. "Don't you dare come near me or I shall scream," she told them as they all looked at her.

Charlie stepped forward; "Look, sorry if we scared you, but we just want to see Hermione, er Sarah," he smiled as he explained.

Nicky visibly relaxed as she saw the warmth and friendliness in Charlie's eyes, she could tell that he and those with him were good people, putting down the lamp, she told them that Sarah was upstairs with her new boyfriend, second door on the left; she smiled a little nervously at Charlie.

"Would it be ok for me to go up do you think?" Arthur asked looking from Nicky to his wife.

"They are only talking," Nicky said then instantly turned a nice shade of rose red, she had noticed something in the way Charlie was looking at her.

"Bill be a good fellow and fetch that poor girl from the doorway, I bet she's freezing," Charlie said without taking his eyes off Nicky.

Arthur and Molly made their way upstairs, while Charlie remained in the living room, Bill did as his younger brother asked and having returned Gemma to the living room he went in search of the other Weasley's, it was only when Bill left the room that Charlie realised that he now had a small problem, Bill had levitated Gemma in to the room and had left her near the fire place, Nicky was staring wide eyed at Gemma, who stood stiff as a board just a few feet from her. Charlie smiled once more at Nicky before taking out his wand and with a quick wave Gemma was back to normal, "Sorry about that girls, I suppose I should explain," Charlie said as he sat down on the couch.

Upstairs Arthur knocked on the bedroom door, hearing Hermione's voice say 'come in' was so good and heart warming, he stood back to take a deep breath, Molly reached out and opened the door, there sitting just in front of her were her two missing surrogate children, one the young man she had all but legally adopted, the other the woman he had married straight out of school, tears welled up in her eyes as a surge of relief flooded over her. "May I come in please?" Molly asked, the tears began to fall as she walked over to the two younger people, "we found you at last," was all she managed to say as she gave each of them a huge hug.

Arthur himself had tears in his eyes as he introduced himself and his wife, "I am Arthur Weasley, Minister of magic, this is my wife Molly," he looked at Hermione and smiled. Arthur found he had a little more trouble convincing them than he had had with Ron and Luna, mainly because they had neither of them been having strange dreams or odd feelings, or accidental magic like Ron and Luna, well that is till they had met earlier that day. They listened carefully to all Arthur told them about who they were and what they were before making any comments, "I did get the strangest feelings today," Harry admitted "and one or two strange memories."

"So I am a witch then, I suppose I go zooming around on a broomstick," Hermione said still not quite believing what she was hearing.

"When you were younger dear, but that was before you two got married, and you never really liked it," Molly told her.

"Married! I knew I loved you, even before I got to know you, that's how you knew about my…" Hermione said looking straight into Harry's now wide green eyes.

"That's probably why I dreaded losing you again, as well," Harry answered.

Down stairs Charlie was just finalising making a date with Nicky, when everyone from upstairs entered the small living room, "So will it be ok if I call for you at seven tomorrow evening?" He asked as they entered the room.

Nicky smiling looked at Gemma, who tried a surreptitious nod that was noticed by everyone.

"I'll be waiting, seven tomorrow," Nicky replied.

Charlie had quite a time persuading Bill not to perform a memory charm on Nicky and Gemma, but eventually succeeded when Bill decided it was time they joined the others, who had gone ahead to St Mungo's, so looking forward to his date Charlie joined Bill outside, then after waving goodbye, they both disappeared with a crack.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 8

Together again

Harry and Hermione were put into the room next to Ron and Luna and left to settle in, while Arthur, Molly, and the boys went to find out if there was any news about how long it would be before they had their memories returned.

Hermione sat on one of the two beds looking at the stranger, who they told her, was her husband, all the memories of her walk from the café flitted through her mind, she remembered how sad she had felt as she walked alone through the snow, she had never felt so lonely, so lost, it was that feeling that made her realize she was in love with the dark haired Pete. The joy that had filled her when she had heard his voice behind her flooded back over her as she watched him nervously pace the room, at least now she new why she felt she was in love with a man she did not know.

They had spent ten minutes taking in their surroundings and getting used to the idea of being married, when a tall red haired young man entered the room. Ron stood just inside the doorway to the room, looking at the two occupants, he tried hard to remember them but his mind was devoid of any memories of them, apart from his meeting Hermione in the shop. Feeling awkward he introduced himself, "Hi, they tell me I am Ron, Ron Weasley, bit scary not knowing who you are or what's happening don't you think?"

Harry looked at the red head who now stood in the room looking a little nervous, "Ron…, Ron, you… I know you…, seen you before, if only I could remember." Harry dropped onto the bed next to Hermione, "This is all just a little over whelming; I am married with out any of the memories, except I can recall that little mole on your…"

"Hi, I have been told that my name is Hermione, it appears I am one of your best friends," Hermione interrupted before Harry could divulge where she had a mole.

Ron nodded politely to his new found friend then continued "I'm married as well, did they tell you, a most beautiful girl named Luna, she's still in the next room trying to work it all out."

"Well that's typical of Luna," Harry commented, then wondered why he had said it.

"Do you remember Luna?" a new voice asked from the doorway.

Neville Longbottom stood there looking at his friends, a look of happiness covering his face, turning to look at someone behind him he said, "Susan sweet heart, Harry remembers Luna."

Neville was joined by his wife Susan, who having looked around the room rushed over to Hermione, who till two years ago had been her friend. As Susan hugged Hermione, Neville shook hands with Ron and Harry, introducing himself as he did so. "I wish I had stayed with you guys that night, Neville told them, it's just that I wanted to check if Susan was ok, I left you four celebrating, I mean you had a lot to celebrate, Harry finally having finished off Voldemort."

"Voldemort? who is Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"Voldemort was the most evil wizard ever known, a murderer and torturer of innocent people, even children weren't safe from him and his followers, the only people he ever feared were you and professor Dumbledore, Harry, I saw you end his reign of terror, the most amazing thing I ever saw was when you and Hermione both stood up to him and his spells just bounced off you," Neville related the story of the last battle of the war as the three of them listened.

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Neville had almost finished his story when Luna came into the room in search of Ron, "I have remembered some things," Luna announced as she took hold of Ron's hand, "I remember that there were four of us, we were dancing around in a group, all holding onto each other we were celebrating some thing, though that bit has not yet come back to me," she told them as they all stared at her.

Harry and Hermione fought their way through the snow, determined not to let Voldemort get away, they were taking out any death eaters that got close or tried to get in their way. Harry had never wanted his wife to be at the battle front, but she had been so determined to fight by his side that he had eventually conceded to her demands to be with him. It had been as they fought together that they found the love they shared was their most powerful weapon, separately they were a match for any of the death eaters, but together they seemed invincible. Now together hand in hand they advanced on the small building that Voldemort was hiding in, no one was left who stood between them and evil inside the building.

Harry performed a few intricate spells as they reached the cottage, enveloping the building in a magic shield. It had become obvious to all the Wizarding world that Voldemort was in mortal fear of Harry, they had no idea why, or that Harry and his friends, had destroyed Voldemort's self imposed immortality, by destroying a collection of objects that had contained pieces of Voldemort's soul.

Voldemort himself did not know anything of what they had done; all he knew was that over the past three years, his fear of Harry Potter had grown to exceed that he had once had of Dumbledore, he was now so fearful that he rarely left the cottage that had once been his grandfather's hovel, preferring to send out his death eaters to try to stop Harry's relentless approach.

As the Ministry Aurors, along with members of the order of the phoenix, and a few vengeful civilians fought Voldemort's dwindling army of death eaters, Harry and Hermione finally reached their destiny, standing outside the hovel in which Voldemort cowered, Harry called out, "Time to come out Riddle, time to pay for your crimes."

Holding hands, Harry and Hermione watched as the evil wizard who had made numerous attempts to end Harry's life, looked out of the single grimy window. "There is no where left to hide now Riddle," Hermione yelled at the red eyes that stared at them in fear.

As Harry had expected, Riddle tried to Dissaparate from inside the building, he smiled to himself as he heard the swearing coming to them from inside, "Glad Luna suggested placing those charms to prevent him leaving," Harry said to his wife as they waited. The minutes ticked by slowly as Voldemort made several attempts to remove the charms that held him captive, but he knew he had only one way out, and that was blocked by Potter, regretting his inability to kill Harry Potter over the years he decided he had to make a dash for it, there was a chance he could get away if he were outside.

Voldemort rushed from the cottage, firing off three Avada Kedava spells as he did so, he died just a second later as the supposed unstoppable spells were deflected by a shield of love, and sent back to where they had come from by both Harry and Hermione. All three of the evil curses hit him at the same time, the green light that accompanied the evil curse's, erupted into an enormous flash of light that caused both Harry and Hermione to shield their eyes, Voldemort lay on the ground his head hanging at a strange angle his face still locked in a look of agony caused by the violence of the curses, his body also lay at a strange angle, Harry looked at the scene, then slowly placed his wand inside his robes.

"It's done, now we can get on with life," he said as he held his wife close to him.

Hermione looked up at her husbands' eyes, worried by what she might see, instead of depression or guilt she was relieved to see a look that told her he was going to be ok, he was not going to let this final act spoil his life.

"I feel sort of let down," Harry told her as they turned to walk away,

"What do you mean Harry, let down?" Hermione was surprised by his comment.

"Well after all these years, all the times he tried to kill me, all those attacks by the death eaters, I don't know, I sort of expected I would have to fight him in a sort of duel, it all seems like an anti climax, him more or less killing himself," Harry replied as they walked away from the sight of the last battle.

Harry and Hermione joined the gathering of wizards and witches that were celebrating their victory over the death eaters, those who had not been killed or captured had fled, leaving just the clearing up to be done.

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Neville was about to tell yet another story about his exploits during the last battle, when Susan caught hold of his hand, "That's enough for today dear, we can come back and talk on another day," Susan said in her velvet like voice. Thinking of Neville's bravery always made her feel amorous, she wanted to get him home, she had never thought she would fall in love with the shy stammering little fat boy he had been when he started at Hogwarts, now he had developed into a tall extremely handsome and muscular young man, who could make her go weak at the knees with just a look. Promising to return to see them during the week Neville and Susan said their goodbyes, leaving the four friends to talk about the way things had turned out. Talking together began to draw out a few memories though they were all vague, as though seen through a fog of some sort.

Arthur and Molly Returned accompanied by a healer who had a collection of goblets on a large tray, "Right then if you would all be so kind as to take a goblet and drink your potions," the healer said "we can get you all into bed, those potions will make you sleep, you will dream vivid dreams that you will be able to remember, that will be the beginning of your treatments."

"You are not going to like this part," Ron muttered, "the taste is blooming awful."

Five minutes later they were all asleep; it would not be long before the potion began its work.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 9.

Dreams and Memories

Surrounded by strange ghosts Harry was fighting for his life as his wand made a strange connection with Voldemort's, the scene around the grave yard vanished in a bright light as Harry now found himself in the kitchen at number four Privet drive, Uncle Vernon was once more yelling about the episode at the zoo, walking into the kitchen as Harry started to prepare breakfast. As he placed a plate in front of his uncle Harry found himself face to face with Hagrid, who was sitting his head bowed in mourning for the loss of his baby dragon, moving around to place his arm around his huge friends shoulders, Harry found himself looking into the eyes of his friend and headmaster Albus Dumbledore who then changed into the most beautiful bride Harry had ever seen. The priest was asking if he took Hermione Jane Granger for his wife, as he said I do, he found himself yet again in a different location, a king size bed faced him; his new wife lay in the middle of it waiting for him.

Harry woke with a start, the dreams had been so vivid he automatically reached out to check his bed, realizing as he did so that he was still in the wizard hospital. Looking across the room to the other bed he saw that his wife was still asleep, though by the way she tossed and turned, he knew she too must have been having wildly fast moving and vivid dreams, not wanting to wake her, he gently felt around for his glasses, having found them and placed them on his face, he quietly got up and crept from the room.

How he knew he did not know, but he knew exactly where he was heading, and a few minutes later he returned to the ward with four cups of tea, from a machine he knew was on the fifth floor, slowly he opened the door to his room, only to find Hermione sitting up, she was wet with sweat, it was obvious to him that her last dream must have been some sort of nightmare. Hermione took the tea gratefully, she had just awoken from a dream about the triwizard tournament, the boy she loved with all her heart, was flying around the head of a huge fire breathing dragon and teasing it, she was sure he would be killed before he ever got to know she loved him.

"I'm just going to take these teas next door," he told her as she took her first sip.

"Ok but be careful you don't wake them if they are asleep, just leave the tea, we need to talk when you get back," Hermione replied before taking another drink of her tea.

Ron woke with the pleasant feeling of the slight weight of a head resting on his chest, and a warm knee resting across his hip, he opened his eyes slowly, he did not want to lose the dream like sensation of having a woman lying along side him, as his eyes adjusted he was confronted by a mass of untidy blond hair, he could feel her arm as it moved on his stomach, her hand spread across his ribs. Gently brushing Luna's hair from his face, he watched her as she slept; he could see her eyes below her eyelids rapidly following some dream. Slowly he began to remember where he was and why, reaching for his watch to check the time, he tried not to wake his sleeping wife. Ron was still looking at his watch when he realised Luna had woken up and was now watching him, "Morning darling," she said, an unusual huskiness in her voice.

"I think we should get up, it won't be long before one of the healers comes to check on us," Ron groaned, getting up was not what he wanted to do.

"Do we have to?" Luna teased running her hand down his stomach.

"Afraid so," a grinning Harry said as he entered the room with the two cups of tea, Harry placed the cups on the cabinet next to the bed, then having bid them to drink up he walked back to his room.

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Hermione was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for him when he returned; Harry picked up his cup of tea then joined her on the bed, "You had some dreams too then?" was his comment between sips of tea, "I know I did, some were really scary, like nightmares."

"Same here, but I also had some that were far from nightmares, some of the things we did," she said turning a shade of red as she recalled the dreams.

"Most all of my dreams were about when I was growing up, all the things I had to go through," Harry said as he finished his tea, "all that is except the last one, I know now, were I first saw that little mole."

Hermione's face turned a deeper shade of red as she realised what Harry was saying, gently she nudged him in his ribs and muttered "Well I hope it was after the wedding."

"Luna, you were in my bed," Ron said and felt stupid as soon as he had said it.

"I had a dream about our wedding, and about our life together, I woke up and most of my memory had returned, I wanted to be with you, my husband, that and I really missed you holding me, so I crept over and got in with you," Luna explained.

It took only a second for Ron to realise what she had said and what it meant, "You got your memory back already, that's good news, I just wish I had all mine back,"

"Don't you remember anything at all?" Luna asked sounding appalled.

"Oh I have one or two bits, I also have a few vague ones too," Ron smiled at her, a dreamy look in his eye.

"What have you remembered?" She wanted to know.

Ron's face turned as red as his hair and he looked down at the floor, "I remember our wedding night, and a few other nights too."

It was Luna's turn to blush, as she admitted that she had first remembered the hot steamy nights they had shared together, the things they had done, in both the bedroom and in the shower room, those were the things she had thought about as she had begun to get her memory back.

"Well looks like I'm on the right track then," Ron chuckled; taking Luna into his arms he kissed her for the first time in two years.

A soft knock on the door ended the kiss that had turned rather passionate. "Come in," Ron squeaked, then swallowing hard, he repeated himself with a more normal voice "come in."

Harry and Hermione, both entered slowly not knowing what to expect, Harry had told Hermione about Ron and Luna being in bed together, there was a look of relief on their faces when they saw that their friends were simply sat on the end of the bed.

Luna explained about her memory having returned in the night, "And Ronald has started to remember some things too," she announced.

Ron turned a little red as he nodded in agreement, he was remembering things about being in a shower with Luna, and would have been much happier if he had been left undisturbed.

Their conversation had barely begun when healer Jennings entered the room, "Any thing to report this morning?" she asked cheerfully.

Luna informed her that she now had most of her memory back, although she had not been able to figure out how Malfoy had managed to carry out such a task.

Ron mentioned rather quietly that some memories had returned but would prefer not to speak of them. Both Harry and Hermione were a lot more negative in what they had to say, only admitting to having had some vivid dreams.

"Not to worry dears, Ron and Luna have been taking the potion a day longer than you two, I must say though, that I am so happy you seem to be recovering so quick," Healer Jennings said as she began to examine them. Having run her wand up and down their bodies both back and front, then checked out their ears nose and throat, she stepped back with a huge smile on her face, "I think it is time for another dose of potion, this one will be slightly different to the last one, with this one you will not fall asleep though you may find yourself day dreaming a time or two."

Healer Jennings clapped her hands, from somewhere just out side the door, a small bell could be heard ringing, a minute later they were joined by a very young trainee, "You rang?" she said.

"Yes, time for the next potion, would you be so kind as to fetch it and administer it to our charges," healer Jennings said as she left the room.

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Molly Weasley was busy cooking breakfast when her sons began to come down to the kitchen, Arthur sat reading the Daily Prophet, wondering how they always seemed to get a hold of unreleased and sometimes secret news from the Ministry.

The headline read '**Harry and co return'**; it went on with a short comment from some unknown source.

_The quartet that bravely led the final attack on the death eater head quarters, were last night finally reunited after a forced separation that has lasted since the day after the fall of Voldemort, this morning it was revealed all four hero's are under going treatment at St Mungo's_...

Arthur threw the paper across the table to his eldest son, "Find out who leaked this, I am fed up of these constant titbits of information that end up on the front page, we will have to move fast to have all four removed from St Mungo's, this article could be just what is needed by any hidden or unknown death eaters, out for revenge."

Bill grabbed some toast before leaving the kitchen, beckoning Charlie to follow him as he opened the door, a few minutes later Bill and Charlie were standing in the twins shop talking to Fred and George.

"We are going to need devious people on this, men we can trust, men who are capable of all kinds of tricks," Bill told them, as both he and Charlie grinned at the famous Weasley twins.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 10.

Rita Skeeter

Minister of magic Arthur Weasley, arrived alone at St Mungo's at eight a.m. Taking the stairs instead of the lifts, he checked each and every flight of stairs for hidden spells or devices, as he slowly made his way toward the rooms of the youngsters. While checking out the third floor, he saw as he looked through the window of the door, a person that he did not want to meet, it was Rita Skeeter, reporter for the Daily prophet, she was doing what he assumed was a quick search of all the rooms. There was no doubt in his mind she was in search of Harry. Throwing caution to the wind Arthur rushed up to the fourth floor, as he arrived a little out of breath he met healer Jennings, who was just leaving Ron's room.

"Good morning Minister, what ever is the matter you look a little flushed?" the healer greeted him.

"Sorry, no time, Skeeter woman coming this way, need to get them out of here," Arthur told her as he pushed his way past her.

Arthur was quite pleased to find all four people he was looking for were together "Right, quickly now, I want you all ready to travel in two minutes," Arthur almost whispered.

"What's the matter Pop?" Luna asked, wondering what had her father in law so flustered.

Arthur stared at Luna and a smile began to appear on his face. "Luna dear, you called me Pop."

"Haven't I always called you Pop?" she answered.

"Yes but you called me Pop, only you ever called me Pop, does that mean what I think it means?" Arthur's smile grew larger.

"Yes Pop but what is all the rush for?" Luna had lost none of her inquisitive nature when her memory had been lost.

"There's an article in the Daily Prophet about you four, been a leak from the Ministry, and now Skeeter is searching the rooms for you. I don't want her to write any of her rubbish till you can all defend your selves," Arthur told them.

"Is there something you are not telling us Pop?" Luna asked quite seriously.

"Well while you are in this condition, you are unable to defend your selves against any possible revenge attacks that's all," Arthur took another quick glance through the door.

"Blast, she's at the other end of the corridor coming this way, you lot get ready, when she goes into the next room I want you too run for the stairs," Arthur said looking at them.

"Just a minute Pop, does this mean that you don't know who is leaking information to the press?" Luna said, with a rather devious look on her face.

Arthur was getting a little agitated as he watched the reporter getting closer, "Luna now is not the time to be having this conversation."

"Ah but maybe it is, I think we can use dear Rita to our advantage," Luna said, looking as though she was relishing the thought of some forth coming feast.

It was five minutes before the reporter walked into the room, she positively gloated over the four hapless victims now within her grasp, within seconds of arriving she had withdrawn her writing pad and the infamous quick quotes quill that would have been better named quick lies quill.

Luna was the first to speak "What do you want Skeeter?" she hissed.

"I heard that you have all been admitted with loss of memory, my dear, I just wondered if you could verify it for me?" Rita said, as her quill scribbled furiously on the pad.

"I don't know where you got that from Skeeter, in fact, do you remember what Hermione told you last time you wrote lies about Harry?. It would not take us long to tell the ministry about your illegal animagus ability," Luna was enjoying her self

"Oh and who do you think would believe you? Nobody is going to believe someone with brain damage, every one would laugh at you if you told them I could change into a beetle, you silly girl," Rita was gloating she thought she had just found the angle she would use. Rita was just picturing the headlines '_The famous hero's suffer brain damage at the hand of unknown assailant'_.

"Now Mr Potter," she said turning away from Luna, "can you tell me anything about the brain damage you have suffered?"

Harry stared at her for a few seconds "Well you would have to ask the minister about that, or maybe you could turn into the insect that you are, to find out."

"I may do just that," Rita said a large smirk on her face.

"I think I would like to see that," said Arthur, walking from behind the bed screens that stood to one side of the door.

"Minister I…, that is…" spluttered Rita as she turned in shock and saw Arthur.

"Seems you will be taking a trip to Azkaban miss Skeeter, I wonder how long you will be there, an illegal animagus, and threatening to use said illegality to enter the Ministry as a spy, and with four adult witnesses, not to mention my self, The Minister for magic. I wonder are there any of the Wizengamot you have not insulted or offended, I wonder if we would be able to find you an impartial judge at your trial? Well I suppose we should try, but I don't hold out much hope," Arthur said, his face set in what he liked to call his official look.

Arthur rang one of the bells fitted to the wall, not long after, a healers assistant entered the room, "Someone rang, can I be of help?" asked the young woman.

"Yes dear can you get one of the security Aurors up here please," Arthur replied.

Fred and George had spent quite a while trying to work out some plot that would reveal the person responsible for leaking the information that put their family members at risk, but by closing time unusual for them, neither had come up with anything that was feasible. That evening almost the entire Weasley family sat in the kitchen of the Burrow, all of them were putting forward ideas to one another, about the best way to trap the one they now referred to as the traitor.

While Harry and Hermione, accompanied by Ron and Luna, sat upstairs in the twin's old room that was now allocated as Harry and Hermione's bedroom. They were discussing the strange day they had had, Hermione told them of a few of the daydreams she had been having all day, after which they all took turns, hoping that talking would hurry their recovery, both Ron and Harry had slightly more on their minds most of the time.

Down stairs as the clock struck seven times, Charlie suddenly leapt to his feet, "I'm bloody late," he said, as he grabbed his coat and ran out of the house. A few minutes later a very cold Charlie was knocking on the front door of Hermione's former house, he stamped his feet in the deep snow as he heard the commotion coming from inside, it had started to snow again and he cussed as he watched the white swirling flakes fall.

"Bloody weather!"

The door opened and Gemma stood to one side as she invited him in, "Can you wait in the living room Charlie? she won't be a minute," she said as she closed the door. Leaving him to make his way to the living room, Gemma disappeared up the stairs. Charlie took a seat in front of the fire and warmed his hands and feet, now that he was here, he suddenly realised he had no idea where to take a Muggle girl, especially on a night like this, he turned to look out the window but the drapes had been pulled shut.

He stood and was about to walk to the window, when Nicky walked into the room. Charlie's mouth dropped open at the sight of her, with just the smallest amount of make up on, her auburn hair falling to just below her shoulders, a white top and a tight pair of blue jeans with black knee length boot's, Charlie thought she looked stunning.

"Hi Charlie, I was not sure you would come," Nicky said, holding out her hand to him.

Charlie took her hand and instead of shaking it, he bowed forward and kissed her knuckles, "for someone as beautiful as you, I would travel around the world."

Nicky smiled at him, she definitely liked this strange magical young man, more than she had liked any of the other men that had asked her for a date lately.

As she stood there in front of him, Charlie suddenly found himself saying, "I have no idea where to take you, we had that crisis with my brother and his wife, then there is Harry and his wife, I was so busy."

"Is Sarah married then, did she run away from him?" Nicky asked, she sounded concerned.

"I wish it had been that easy, I don't even know how to tell you about it all," Charlie was franticly trying to think how to tell her without frightening her; he already wanted to see her again.

"Hermione, that's Sarah, Hermione is her real name, she was robbed of her memory and well," Charlie stopped he knew he must sound crazy to a Muggle.

"Where is Sarah now? Is she in hospital, we could go to visit her," Nicky offered, smiling at him, she was having just a little trouble accepting it all, even though she had seen him do some strange things.

Charlie made his mind up at that moment, that he would indeed take Nicky to see Hermione, "Well you best put your coat on, it has started to snow again," he told her. Having said goodnight to Gemma, Charlie and Nicky stepped out of the door and into the falling snow. "You are going to have to put your arms around me and hold on tight," Charlie said, as he stopped in the middle of the garden path.

Nicky hesitated only for a moment before doing as he asked, she put her arms around him as she would have done had they been about to kiss, Charlie placed his arms around her waist, then resisting the temptation to actually kiss her, he Disapparated on the spot.

"Wow! Charlie, that was different, I never… well wow!" Nicky said breathlessly, when they reappeared outside the Burrow.

Charlie looked into her warm brown eyes and could no longer resist, he leant forward, reducing the inches between them and kissed her, Nicky responded and kissed him back. When they finally decided they needed more oxygen and separated, Charlie took a deep breath, then turned her to face the odd multi story house he called home.

"Welcome to the Burrow, home to the Weasley family," he said gesturing with a wide sweep of his hand.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 11

The Proposal

Charlie opened the kitchen door and invited Nicky in. As they stood there in the doorway shaking the snow off their coats, Molly Weasley rose from her chair and went over to welcome this new visitor to her home. All the Weasley's stood as they were introduced by Charlie, the welcome they gave to Nicky was warm and generous; all the men offered her their seats including Arthur.

When Nicky looked around the kitchen of the Burrow she was amazed, dishes in the sink were washing them selves, and the pots on the fire had self stirring ladles in them. A line of washing hung across the back of the room wafting about as a jet of warm air blew them gently. She held on to Charlie's arm as they approached the table, marvelling at the strange and wondrous surroundings.

"Is it always like this?" she asked him.

Charlie smiled at her "No sometimes it gets rather busy," he chuckled.

Charlie and Nicky joined the group around the table; it was not many minutes later when he revealed to his family that he had not told Nicky very much about what was happening or about what had already happened. To his great relief his family quite happily told her all about their recent history. Relating tales about Voldemort and the war, they told all about Harry and Hermione, and their part in the ultimate victory over the evil that had threatened the entire world. By the time Nicky remembered that she had come to visit Hermione, she was feeling like a member of the family, she felt she had known them for years. Suddenly there was a slight commotion on the stairs as Ron came thundering down, he was closely followed by Harry, Hermione and Luna.

"Mum, Dad, Charlie, Bill everyone. My memory came back, we were talking and suddenly I remembered. All of it came flooding back; I remembered the spell Draco hit us with. We were in a huddle, we were about to celebrate when he found us. He used a simple imobilus charm, it caught us all, gave him the time to obliviate us," Ron suddenly stopped talking, realising that there was a stranger amongst them.

Arthur looked to where Ron's gaze was aimed, "That's Nicky, Ron, Charlie's Muggle girlfriend. We have just told her everything," he said as he introduced Nicky.

Nicky shook hands with Ron then saw Hermione standing behind the rather handsome young man with messy black hair that had visited their house with Sarah. "Sarah, are you ok, are you still Sarah, oops that's a silly question you're really Hermione sorry. But really how are you?" Nicky asked as the two women hugged each other. Hermione stepped back and took hold of Harry's hand, and pulled him to her side. "This is Harry, my husband, at least he will be, I mean he still is, but I don't remember him properly yet, well I do but not... Oh never mind all that. Harry this is Nicky, You met her at our house…" Hermione gave up; she was getting herself a little confused by it all.

Harry held out his hand and shook Nicky's politely, "I was Peter last time we met, confusing isn't it?" he laughed.

Five minutes later Hermione and Nicky disappeared up stairs. They were followed shortly after by Ron and Luna, who having had their memories restored had two years worth of… Well they had some catching up to do.

Harry sat with the remaining family members and listened intently as they told him about Hogwarts and Voldemort. They told him how he had been enemies with Draco Malfoy since their very first meeting. Molly told him all about his aunt and uncle and about the way they had treated him. Arthur chimed in saying just how angry they had all been with Harry, for keeping quiet about it. When the full extent of the Dursley's cruelty had been discovered half of Harry's friends wanted to go and place hexes on Vernon and Petunia. The other half just wanted to send them to Azkaban.

Charlie left the kitchen and joined Hermione and Nicky half an hour after Harry had sat down. Asking to be excused he explained that he needed to tell Nicky, that she could never tell anyone about the things she had seen and been told. Charlie, Nicky and Hermione soon joined the others in the kitchen where the conversation drifted from one topic to another. The clock on the kitchen wall let them know it was midnight before anyone gave any thought to calling it a day. Molly called Hermione over, telling her it was time for her to take her potion, then Molly stood next to both Harry and Hermione in turn, as they drank the potion, making darn sure that they drained all of the foul tasting contents of their goblets.

Hermione said good night to Nicky before leading Harry up the stairs to their bedroom. Molly and Arthur decided at the same time as Bill and Fleur that it was time to go to bed, they to went up the stairs quietly, Bill was deep in thought about his brothers.

By half past midnight Charlie and Nicky were finally alone, "I hope you don't mind meeting everyone on our first date? but you did say you wanted to see Hermione," Charlie said , suddenly feeling awkward.

"Well Charlie, I have to say that it is not usual for the girlfriend to meet the parents of a boy so soon, usually a couple have shared quite a few dates first, but having said that I would not have missed this for the world. This is the best date I ever had. Your family are wonderful."

Charlie and Nicky spent the entire night sitting in the kitchen, telling each other all about them selves, sharing their secrets and their dreams.

--------------------------------------

At ten a.m. the next morning Luna knocked on the office door of the Minister for magic, entering she found that Arthur and Remus were there already. Arthur was just telling Remus about the unusual greeting he had received when he went down to breakfast that morning. "Take a seat Luna my dear, we are just waiting for Minerva to arrive," Arthur told her after she had said hello and hugged Remus.

Minerva arrived soon after, and was immediately questioning Arthur as to why he had needed to see her so urgently.

"I need you and Remus here to help confirm that what Luna has told me is correct, that is that Rita Skeeter is an illegal animagus. Then we, well that is Luna has formed a plan that will expose who it is in the Ministry that keeps on passing information to the press."

Minerva looked at Luna and apologised for not greeting her before interrogating Arthur. Luna, who had not been surprised by her former Professors entrance, said good morning and stood to shake hands with her old teacher. Rita Skeeter was bought to them about half an hour later. Luna had used the intervening time to tell her friends all about her idea.

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Harry woke with a jump, he felt as though he had just fallen from a step. It was this that had woken him. Sitting up in his bed he looked across the room to see Hermione was also beginning to wake, his mind rested on how he enjoyed watching her as she took a shower, how her skin would shine and glisten in the water, how her bushy hair would turn almost as dark as his. It was as he was having these thoughts, that he realised he could remember everything. His memory had returned.

"What are you doing over there Harry? Oh never mind I remember now," Hermione said as she rubbed her sleepy eyes.

Harry climbed from his bed and grabbed a towel then headed for the bathroom.

"Wait for me Harry, I need a shower too," Hermione said getting from her bed and grinning at him, hand in hand they walked to the bathroom only to find it locked. Harry knew it would be a waste of time knocking, so the couple headed back to the bedroom.

"And I was so looking forward to finishing where we left off two years ago," Hermione said with a glint in her eye.

"We were in the bath then Mione, not in the shower," Harry chuckled at the memory.

Hermione laughed "Bath or shower we were still wet, and you owe me one full body rub down Harry James Potter."

"Hermione, you got your memory back too," Harry declared.

--------------------------------------

Molly could smell bacon cooking as she climbed down the stairs, she knew it was not Ron or Luna cooking as neither of them was very good at it yet. She decided it must be Hermione but as she rounded the corner, there at the other end of the passage she saw both Hermione and Harry going into their room. Wondering who it was that was now cooking toast as well as bacon, Molly shuffled down the last flight of stairs.

Charlie and Nicky were both over at the cooker, they were so close together Molly could not tell which one of them was doing the cooking, she paused as Charlie kissed Nicky, in what looked to Molly, like a very passionate way before he picked up a plate and made his way to the table. "Morning mum, come sit down have a cup of tea. Nicky has breakfast under control," Charlie said beaming at Nicky.

Molly was not sure what to do, it was her job to do the breakfast, it had been for years, but the offer of a cup of tea sounded too good to miss, making her decision Molly sat down on her usual chair opposite Charlie. Two minutes later Nicky placed a plate of bacon eggs sausage and toast in front of Molly, everything looked to be cooked perfect. Molly looked up smiling at her son and said "You should hang on to this one Charlie, she's an excellent cook."

"I'd ask her to marry me if I thought she might say yes," laughed Charlie.

"And what makes you think I won't," Nicky asked with a smile as she placed more toast on the table.

Charlie dropped his cup as he stared with his mouth open, "Does that mean what I think it means?" he asked.

"Well why don't you ask and find out," Nicky said as she turned more bacon over, her face turning red.

Charlie sat looking from Nicky to his mother and back, he could not be sure he had just heard what he thought he had heard, taking a deep breath he blurted out, "Would you really marry me if I asked?"

"Why don't you ask? that way you will find out," Molly said looking with astonishment at Nicky.

Charlie got up and walked over to Nicky, taking the spatula from her hand and placing it on the stove, he took her hands in his and began "After all we talked about last night, I knew you were the one for me, but I had not dared to hope too much."

Molly interrupted him "Charlie get on with it or the bacon will burn."

"Nicky will you marry me?" he managed to say without stuttering.

Nicky looked at him seriously with out a trace of a smile and his heart dropped into his shoes, '_she's just been joking' _he thought.

"Yes Charlie, I will, now will you finish your breakfast," Nicky said with a huge smile bursting across her face.

"Charlie lifted Nicky off her feet and swung her around the kitchen, then having put her down he did the same with his mother, leaving both women slightly dizzy, he rushed up the stairs shouting for all to hear.

"I am gonna marry Nicky."

There was pandemonium in the Weasley house that morning as Charlie made known to them all that Nicky had said she would marry him, it was as he was telling his father that Charlie turned to Nicky and asked. "You did say yes, it wasn't a dream, some charm or something?"

"No Charlie it wasn't a joke or a spell or a charm, it is what I want, I want to marry you Charlie Weasley," Nicky laughed as the breakfast proposal was cheered by all there.

A/Note, For those interested the time scale of the date and proposal between Nicky and Charlie are taken from my own life, my hubby and I met on a Thursday afternoon and were married just a day and a half later on the Saturday morning, and if you check my profile you will see that we have been together for many happy years.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 12

Luna's report

Rita Skeeter was told to sit and to remain quiet; apprehensively she looked at the three other people gathered at the desk in front of her. She knew she had finally gone to far, this time there would be no way out, she wondered how long she was going to have to spend at the wizard prison. It was obvious to her that she would find no sympathy from anyone; she had after all made a comfortable living by writing lies about most all of the governing members of her world. Luna leant forward and whispered something into the Ministers ear. '_Oh how I hate that loony Lovegood'_ Rita thought as she watched them intently.

After studying Rita, Arthur Weasley finally spoke, "Miss Skeeter how would you like the chance to escape going to Azkaban and at the same time getting your self a headlining article on the front page of the Prophet?"

Rita sat up straight; she was willing to do anything to stay out of prison. Thinking she now had a chance to get away with everything once again she quickly replied "what do I have to do Minister?"

Arthur glanced side ways at Luna, then turned to Remus and nodded. "What we want Miss Skeeter, is for you to find out who it is at the Ministry that keeps on leaking information to the press," Remus said with out looking up.

Rita could not believe her luck. "Is that all?" she asked a little quickly.

"Yes that is all we want from you," Luna said with a grimace, she did not like Skeeter and never would.

Rita noted the look Luna gave her and thought instantly it was because she was once again going to get away with it, '_Lovegood and her father have tried before to stop me but never could_' she thought. She found the idea of upsetting Luna rather pleasant and a large smile erupted on her face, "I can tell you that right now Minister, Mr Fudge one of the Ministry advisors is the man you want," Skeeter told them feeling really smug.

Remus left the room as soon as she had finished speaking. Arthur looked at Skeeter with a look of disgust on his face "You will be taken to a holding cell, if what you have told us is true you will be released," Arthur told her as he rang the bell for Kingsley Shacklebolt's office. A minute later Kingsley entered the office, "Take miss Skeeter and keep her incommunicado, she is to speak to no one until I have cleared things up," Arthur instructed as he looked at his head Auror.

"Your headlining article will be ready soon," Luna said as she left the office.

Fudge was arrested and had to undertake a veritaserum test, having failed miserably he was then locked up to await his trial by the Wizengamot. Rita Skeeter was locked into an interview room next to Shacklebolt's office and had to remain there until Arthur ordered her release the following day.

-------------------

Nicky had spent the entire day with Charlie at the Burrow and by tea time she knew for certain that she had made the right decision. After they had the evening meal and Molly had asked what time Nicky would be leaving for home, Nicky found herself not wanting to leave. She wanted to be with Charlie and could see no reason why she should go home, and she could tell from Molly's tone that the question wasn't because they wanted her to leave.

"But Nicky dear, you have to tell your friends and family, surely if you get married you will want them to be there," Molly said a little surprised at her reaction to the thought of leaving Charlie.

Charlie made arrangements with his father to have another day off work so that he and Nicky could sort things out. As Hermione pointed out Gemma would need to know because she would have to organise new people to share the house, she would not be able to afford the house on her own, that and she would want to be at the wedding.

Luna rose early the next morning and was impatiently waiting for the morning paper. Harry found his wife and Luna both pacing the kitchen in between staring out of the window; it was not long after that Ron joined them in the kitchen.

Harry was just about to sit down when Hermione let out a small squeal, turning quickly he looked in the direction of her gaze only to see an owl approaching. "I do wish you would not do that Hermione love, gave me a right shock," Harry said returning his attention to sitting down for his breakfast.

Luna and Hermione unfolded the Daily Prophet on the table and scanned the headline. Hermione then began to read it out to all of them.

_**Rita Skeeter column, Evil exposed**_.

'_Rita Skeeter's column can reveal today, a twisted individual who took great pleasure in breaking the law and in printing lies, was arrested and taken into custody by the ministry'_.

_It was revealed today that an illegal animagus form was used by a press reporter as a disguise to gain information and to twist that information to spread lies and deceit, causing pain and heartbreak to many in the Wizarding world. The reporter was arrested yesterday by the Minister for Magic Arthur Weasley himself. The Minister said, and I quote 'It was with great pleasure that he hoped to put an end to this evil reporter's career'._

_It can be revealed that the reporter is even now under lock and key, while the minister sorts it all out, no apology was offered by the reporter, either to the ministry or to those victims who have suffered from the evil words written by this evil so called reporter. Said reporter used a quick quotes quill to twist and distort all she reported; this writer wonders if the reporter ever had one single word of truth published? Though I must admit to knowing that an article in the Quibbler written by yours truly some time back was forced on the said reporter who was forced to put her name to the article and have printed only what she was told._

_Having been seconded to write this article, this writer can now reveal the name of the guilty party, it is none other than the normal writer of this column, __**Rita Skeeter**__, who in the form of a beetle has invaded the privacy of many homes, and in so doing has broken a great many of the written and unwritten Wizarding laws. I can reveal that she will be released later today; the ministry has decided that it will be your task to judge this evil woman. Will we ever see her writing this column again? I doubt it, but the fate of this woman now rests in your hands._

"Who on earth wrote that, who ever it was deserves a medal?" Ron said as Hermione finished reading.

Everyone in the room agreed with him in a chorus of here, here and I second that.

Luna smiled at Ron, "I always thought I would make a good reporter like daddy said."

-------------------

At ten fifteen Luna sat in Arthur's office, a smile played on her lips, she had waited a long time to put an end to Rita Skeeter's lies. She laid out the Prophet on the desk opposite where she sat; she was going to enjoy this. Rita was bought in to the office by an Auror who then left her to take a seat. "As we promised, this morning you got your headlining news," Luna said as she indicated the paper to Rita, "you are free to leave when you wish," she said almost laughing as she got up and left the office.

--------------------

Harry Ron and Hermione sat at the Burrow talking about the future and what they would now do. Hermione wanted to go home to begin life afresh in their own home. Molly pointed out that until it was absolutely clear that they had their full memories back they would have to remain at the Burrow as it would be safer.

"Just as a security measure," she added when she saw the looks on the faces of the young ones.

Luna appeared outside the Burrow and looked around; the snow was still falling though it was a lot lighter than of late. She looked at the snow covered trees and the out buildings that all now seemed rather like a Christmas card. Suddenly she realised that the snow did not seem as bad as it had just the day before, _'amazing how good it feels to know we no longer have to worry about Skeeter' _she thought as she walked to the door.

"This is going to be the best Christmas since the war ended," Molly was saying when Luna knocked on the kitchen door before entering. Luna was immediately caught in a flourish of questions about Skeeter's reaction to the news paper and the story. Smiling rather like the cat that had got the cream, she sat at the table and related what had been said and done in Arthur's office. "Skeeter looked like she had just had someone burst her bubble; I could see the dawning comprehension on her face when she realised her reporting future was finished," Luna laughed, "It truly was a picture worth remembering."

While the people around him in the Burrow kitchen clamoured for more information from Luna, Harry was having his own ideas on payback. He had thought of a way to repay Malfoy for two lost years. He would need his friends to carry out his idea but decided to refine it before telling them about it. Later that evening Hermione questioned Harry about what ever was on his mind saying "Come on love, you have been preoccupied all evening, what are you plotting?"

Harry looked into her eyes remembering he had never been able to keep things from her, "I just thought we should get some payback for the year's of putting up with Malfoy is all," he replied.

Hermione was intrigued as were Ron and Luna when they heard Harry's reply.

"Ok so what are we going to do to the ferret and how, he is in Azkaban after all?" Ron asked rather eagerly.

"We can't do anything to him, that evil piece of shi…" Hermione shut up as Luna gasped "Hermione Potter! Language."


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 13 Ferrets.

Harry had been thinking about it all evening and now he felt sure that under the right circumstances he could carry out his plot once Malfoy was free. "All we had to do was to free Malfoy from Azkaban," he told his incredulous listeners.

Ron let out a long low whistle while both Hermione and Luna looked at him as though he were crazy. "You can't free a prisoner, what about the Dementors?" Hermione gasped as Harry's idea began to sink in.

Luna agreed, "First, it's against the law and second, it's impossible and third, well... Ron, tell him what's third," she said disbelievingly.

Ron looked at the determination in Harry's eyes. He had seen it often enough to know that there would be no changing Harry's mind now. "Ok Harry what's the plan?" Ron asked.

Hermione gave a small gasp then rolled her eyes toward the heavens "Oh well done Ron, it's not as though Harry needs your encouragement to break a few rules."

--------------

Arthur came home late from the office a very tired but happy man; he had received news that Rita Skeeter, liar extraordinaire had been fired from the Prophet. After a quick cup of tea the last thing he wanted to do was talk all night to his family, all he had on his mind was a good night's sleep, but it was not to be, Arthur was first approached by Charlie who wanted some advice on arranging a wedding. Then he was confronted by Harry and Ron who wanted to know about Azkaban and the visiting of prisoners. Finally Bill and Fleur called in to say goodnight and stayed a while talking about the days events, by the time Arthur got to his bed he swore that tomorrow he would place a silencing charm on the whole house.

--------------

Early the next day Harry and Hermione walked hand in hand through the snow that covered the village of Ottery St Catchpole, heading for the house they had bought just after they were married. People of the village who saw them gave them a cheery greeting and welcomed them home, one or two asked where they had been and were told that they had been working away for a while. Reaching their house, Harry noticed the extra security that had been added, though he was quite sure it was not needed, their treatment by Malfoy had after all been just a matter of pure bad luck. Opening the door Hermione suddenly felt sad all the work they had done cleaning up the place had been wasted, two years sitting empty had left a damp musty smell that hit them as soon as they entered. Ron and Luna were suffering from the same problem with their cottage at the other end of the village.

Harry walked through the house and despite the falling snow, he opened all the windows as he passed them, stopping to light huge fires in the two downstairs rooms and the three smaller fireplaces that were on the upper floor's. Hermione followed Harry around, conjuring large bouquets of flowers in every available space, the damp musty smell was taking a long time to disperse so Harry decided that a nice warm breeze blowing through the house would be helpful.

"We won't want this smell around when we have our children," he told her.

Hermione thinking of the previous two nights, said to her self '_that maybe sooner than you think Mr Potter'._

Ron and Luna arrived just after Hermione had finally finished placing the flowers. "We have the same problem," Luna told Hermione as she wrinkled up her nose.

Harry and Ron went out to check on the outside of the house to see if anything needed to be done and ended up having a snowball fight, just as they had done at Hogwarts. Luna and Hermione were discussing how things were going now they had got their memories back.

"Harry was talking about children earlier, after last night I think we should really get some work done on the place," Hermione told a wide eyed Luna.

"Don't tell me you…" Luna said in mock surprise.

"Yes and I forgot all about the contraception charm," Hermione answered smiling at the memory.

A quiet knocking at the door ended the conversation as Hermione answered the door and found Neville and Susan standing there in the snow. Inviting them in, Hermione asked that they forgive and try to ignore the smell, the four of them walked into the kitchen to sit at the kitchen table. "You know there is a spell we use in the greenhouses to rid us of damp musty smells," Neville said as Hermione poured four huge mugs of piping hot tea.

Luna shivered and pulled her coat tight around her, "All these windows open a witch could catch a cold," she chuckled before turning to Neville and suggesting he try the spell out in the house, "and then we could shut all these windows."

Neville recited a quick charm and they all watched as a yellow light spread from his wand gradually filling the entire house with summer freshness, having drunk a little of his tea Neville asked where Harry was.

"Harry and Ron are in the back garden some where," Hermione answered him.

Neville excused himself and went out into the garden; he had only taken a few steps when he was bombarded with snowballs, it only took him a few seconds to return some snowballs toward Harry and Ron, who were both laughing. Neville's first one Hit Harry in the chest, his second caught Ron on the back of the head as Ron tried to dodge. After fifteen minutes out in the Garden Neville had been recruited to join Harry's plot to take some revenge on Malfoy.

The following morning was a busy one for Harry, first along with the others he had to visit St Mungo's for a check up, then leaving them to return to the Burrow, he went on to the ministry to acquire visitor's passes to Azkaban, after which he had several shops to visit to buy the items on a long list given to him by Hermione, by lunch time he was just about finished so decided to call in to the Leaky Cauldron for a quick meal. While in there he met both Fred and George who asked what his plans for the future were.

Knowing the twins liking for practical jokes he told them all about his intended revenge on Malfoy. Both twins were excited and offered to help but Harry declined, telling them that if too many turned up it would not be a good idea, George offered help in the form of a few spells. The first one was the one that Madeye used on Malfoy to turn him into a ferret, George said. The spells were just what Harry needed to complete his planned release of Malfoy.

Harry arrived home to find his friends gathered in his kitchen, Ron, Luna and Hermione, were telling Susan about life as a Muggle while Neville listened in the background, Harry joined them at the table having poured himself a mug of hot tea, it was just a few minutes later that Harry began to tell them his plans for the following morning. They would leave at eight a.m. then they would use a visitor's port key to travel to Azkaban, "We will be taking these with us," Harry said, as he levitated a box about a foot square on to the table.

Ron opened the lid and there inside fast asleep lay two ferrets "How come you have bought Malfoy's cousins home Harry?" Ron asked bewildered.

"Well it's all quite simple really, Harry thinks Malfoy might be lonely so he's taking his family to visit him," Neville laughed.

"Actually you are not far wrong there Nev," said Harry grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Now as I was saying we take these two fellows along with us, then when we get the chance we turn Malfoy into a ferret and put him in the box, when we leave we take Malfoy with us," Harry looked pleased with himself.

"But won't the Dementors notice that Malfoy is gone?" Hermione wanted to know.

"They probably would but I got the answer to that one from Fred and George, I'll show you before we leave to go there," Harry said looking at Ron and Neville.

"You can forget that one," Hermione said a little angrily.

"Forget what?" Harry asked looking at her then at Ron and Neville.

"You can forget about leaving me behind, that's what," Hermione told him.

"If Ron's going then so am I," Luna stated.

"Me too," Susan said looking right into Harry's eyes.

The look from Luna killed any idea Harry had of arguing with them, something in the way she looked at him always made him feel like a little boy. The three couples spent the rest of the day cleaning up the house; the musty damp smell had vanished thanks to Neville spell.

Harry was busy cleaning out the room next to the one he and Hermione shared, when Hermione came in with a mug of tea, "Tea break sweetheart," she said offering him the mug.

Harry took the mug and sat down on the bed; Hermione sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder, "What colour do you think the baby would like?" Hermione asked quite casually.

Harry almost choked on his tea as he gulped in shock, "Baby, you're not… how it's only…?"

Hermione giggled like a little girl at her husbands' reaction, "I don't know yet, but what I do know is we did not use the contraception spell, not once since we started to…, well you know," she answered.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 14

Azkaban

The Port key placed them rather fiercely at the forbidding entrance to what had once been a huge fortress. With a quick check Hermione informed them that they would not be able to dissaparate once inside the huge edifice. The six friends joined the very small queue as they slowly moved toward the entrance gate where a really ugly scarred wizard thoroughly searched all those entering.

On reaching the head of the queue Harry was searched, then his box was searched and several tests were carried out on the ferrets to check that they were authentic. As the tests were nearing the end a young man appeared from a small doorway to the left. "Harry Potter. Well bless my soul, never thought we would see you here," the man called out as he walked toward them.

"Joshua, is that Joshua Ivanhoe Davies?" Harry replied.

Harry recognised the ex quidditch player from the Hufflepuff team of his first year at Hogwarts, Joshua had been in his third year when Harry and the others had been in the first, he had been one of the first players Harry had admired.

"So Harry, the guard reported you were trying to bring in some animals," He announced still smiling broadly.

"Yeah we came to see Malfoy," Harry said as he handed the box to Joshua.

Joshua opened the box then almost dropped it as he burst out laughing, "Oh Harry, how well I remember that day," he gasped tears streaming from his eyes. Joshua nodded to the guard and signalled for him to press his button to summon the rest of the wizard guards, within seconds they were surrounded by several burly and stern looking wizards, most of them were covered in duelling scars of some sort or other. "Right lad's gather around," Joshua said as he held up the box, "remember my telling you all about Malfoy when he arrived, how he had been turned into a ferret for trying to curse Harry Potter while his back was to him."

There were several nods and a few murmurs of agreement. "Well this is Harry Potter and he has come to visit Malfoy," he nodded at Harry, "Harry has bought some other visitors to see Malfoy," he said as he opened the box.

The guards all looked over the rim of the box and began to laugh. "Never realised what a wicked sense of humour you had Harry," Joshua said between snorts and chuckles, most hysterical laughter came from the older guards. "I suppose you just want to cheer Malfoy up, bringing his family in to visit and all that," one of the bigger wizards laughed.

"Yeah, something like that, cheer him up, that's what I hope to do," Harry laughed along with them.

------------------

Fred and George had been keeping a watch on Harry, Ron, and their wives, they were still not sure that they were safe George especially wanted to make sure Hermione was safe, so they set off to keep an eye on them, they could see the island of Azkaban about a mile in front of them.

"Time to make some height brother," called Fred as they skimmed across the wave tops of the North Sea on their broomes.

George blew his warm breath into his cold hands as he nodded to his brother. Together they rose above the cold daunting building that was Azkaban. Circling slowly they tried to pick out where Harry and the others were, once they had sighted them they kept their eyes locked on them.

Harry and his friends were escorted to Malfoy's cell where they were greeted by a filthy unkempt skeleton of a man they once knew as Draco Malfoy. The visiting time was forty five minutes, but thought Harry this had thankfully been shortened by the guards wanting to talk with the great Harry Potter, the man who had vanquished Voldemort. With only twenty minutes left of the visiting time Harry, Ron, Neville, and the girls sat on a bench outside Malfoy's cell, as a special treat solely in honour of Harry's visit Malfoy had been allowed to join them. Malfoy only said one thing to them and that was just to ask if they had come to gloat. Harry answered him honestly. "No Malfoy we came to get you out of here."

Hermione did her part in freeing Malfoy by casting an obliviate charm on him, so with his mind totally empty Malfoy just sat there unmoving for the remaining time. Hermione her inquisitive mind working overtime decided to wander around a little. She was interested in the possible origins of the fortress and as she explored further a field she was soon parted from the group of prison visitors and was walking around the palisade looking down at the layout of the whole place.

Hermione never saw it coming though she felt it as it neared her. The Dementor swooped on her seemingly from no where. One second she was looking out to sea the next she was having the life drained from her as the evil being closed in on her.

The first thing Fred knew about it was when his brother screamed. "HERMIONE! Nooooooo." looking around Fred watched as George hurtled toward the fortress wall three hundred feet below.

George was watching Hermione walk along the battlement's thinking how beautiful she looked with her long brown hair blowing out behind her then from the corner of his eye he had seen it as it closed in on her. At first he thought it would just pass her by as it patrolled the fortress but it made straight for her, without hesitating he launched himself into a dive, he did not recall having screamed her name, he did not recall conjuring up a sorcerer's sword, one of the most powerful magical weapons known.

Hermione felt her life being sucked from her as all the horrors of the war filled her mind, she tried hard to think of some thing happy but she found she couldn't it was too late she was about to be destroyed here in this cold dank and evil place. She collapsed to the ground as the dark menacing Dementor hovered just a few feet from her.

George charged at the Dementor like an old fashioned cavalry man, the huge magical sword began to glow an electric blue as he swung it at the evil that was engulfing the woman he loved. The sword and its magic severed the head from the Dementor as George roared some primeval war cry at it. Turning as fast as he could for another attack he saw the Dementor shrivel as the numerous souls it had devoured escaped their captor, then the evil that had once been supposedly invulnerable crumpled onto the stone slabs. As it slowly changed from its ethereal form it turned into a wrinkled ancient wizard.

George landed as close as he could to Hermione and then very tenderly he lifted her, he was joined at that moment by his brother Fred who used an enervate charm on her, as Hermione began to revive Fred pulled from his pocket two chocolate frogs and handed them to her, Hermione gratefully took them and began to eat. Five minutes later Hermione was feeling a whole lot better, George left his brother Fred to take her back to Harry, while he went in a storming rage to the office block, George had petrified four guards who had tried to stop him, before he arrived at the governor's office, not stopping to knock he kicked open the door and in a flash he had grabbed the governor from behind his desk and then he frog marched him to the corpse of what had once been a Dementor.

"This thing tried to kill my friends' wife," George said pushing the governor's head down for him to get him a good close look. "What the hell are Dementors doing roaming around when there are visitors here you moron."

The governor struggled into a standing position, "Do you know who I am," he shouted at George. "I am the governor here, do you hear me the governor."

"Correction you were," George almost screamed, "the woman this thing attacked the Minister thinks of as his daughter, the wife of Harry Potter, she is someone we all love dearly."

At that point the governor felt that George might just kill him he was so angry, then the words George had just used sank into his head. "THE Minister, and Harry Potter's wife, oh heck, oh crap," he mumbled. As the faint governor's knees wobbled they were joined by Harry, Ron and Neville. Closly followed by Joshua. Harry and Ron had been told by Fred what had happened. "Who's this?" Harry asked.

"This, so he tells me is the governor," George said, pointing at the mortified looking wizard with the sword he had conjured still held in his hand.

"George would you mind putting that sword away," Ron asked, as he eyed the weapon George was swinging around.

"Fred said you actually killed a Dementor. I thought they were immortal," Neville said with an admiring look at George. "How did you do it?"

George now feeling a little calmer looked at the sword in his hand. Once more it began to glow, this time it glowed a brilliant green before it just vanished.

"I've heard tell about a wondrous sword, made by a sorcerer over a thousand years ago. It was made solely to kill evil things like Dementors. I thought it was a legend," Joshua said.

The governor had recomposed himself and started to demand to know who they all were.

"This is Mr Harry Potter, and these are his family," Joshua informed him.

Once more the colour drained from the governor's face, "Then it actually was Harry Potter's wife the famous Hermione," he stuttered. He could see years of his life's work vanishing right before him, this was an unmitigated disaster for him.

Harry pulled George to one side and asked what he had said that so upset the governor, George told him how he threatened to have him fired in a round about way. "Hang on George we could use this to our advantage," Harry said thinking quickly, having said a few more words to George they rejoined the group of wizards who were now watching as the released souls soared around them, George swallowed hard before holding out his hand to the governor, "I may have been a little hasty," he mumbled.

Relieved the governor shook hands then ordered Joshua to give the Potter party all the help he could. Returning to the women Harry watched as his wife gave a hardly visible wink, he knew she had done as he had asked. They all said goodbye to an unmoving unreactive Malfoy then they all left as the guard placed Malfoy back in his cell, Joshua carried the box with the ferrets in for them till they reached the port key that would take them back to civilisation. After saying a quick goodbye the Potter party departed from Azkaban, each of them wearing a huge smile.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 15

David Mallory

Fred and George waved goodbye as the three couples and the pair of ferrets vanished from view. Climbing on to their brooms they left Azkaban hoping they would never have to return, five minutes into their flight Fred pulled in close to his brother. "How come you never said anything about being in love with Hermione?" Fred asked.

"Because she is in love with Harry and he's as good as being our baby brother, I am happy for her. As long as she is happy I am happy," George answered honestly.

"You know George, one day you will make some lucky lady a wonderful husband, I just hope you don't have to wait to long," Fred said then dropped the subject and they flew on in silence. As they flew at wave top height just north of Ireland, Fred asked if George fancied stopping off for something to eat, like all the Weasley's he had a good appetite and he was getting hungry.

George was nodding as they detoured south a little and were soon passing over a white blanket that just a week before had been emerald green fields, they were looking for any sign of a magical community. Fred spotted it first just to their right and a little way below them, a large brown owl was descending with a package carried in its large claws. Calling his brother's attention to the bird Fred began to descend, ten minutes later they followed the owl toward a cottage at the end of a small village.

------------

Hermione stepped from the port key reception following Harry, Ron and Luna; she had a lot to think about and as usual was nibbling at her lip.

"Penny for your thoughts love," said Harry, smiling at her.

"Oh I was just remembering that day when the Dementors nearly got you and Sirius, I had no idea what a horrible experience it was till today, oh I know they can suck out your soul and all that, and they bring back all your bad memories, I've had that happen before but it is different when it's something you have experienced really close up, you must be a lot braver than I ever thought, going back to face them again when we rescued Sirius," she answered.

Harry put his arm around her and held her tight, thinking it best not to interrupt her again he walked along in silence, allowing her to think things through. Hermione began to think about George rescuing her, and as she remembered, she remembered the look on his face as he had picked her up oh so very gently after the attack, how he had stroked her forehead while he whispered words of love and encouragement.

She suddenly realised what the look and his words meant, he was in love with her. She felt truly sorry for him; it must be hard to live like that, in love with someone who was desperately in love with your friend. She made her mind up as she walked as he had never hinted at it other than in that one look and those few whispered words, she would just carry on as though she had never noticed.

Harry opened the box as they walked, studying the two ferrets he grinned when he thought about what they were about to do. Leading the group into an alley Harry eyed his companions "here is as good a place as any."

The six of them gathered around the box as Harry cleared away the snow then set it down on the cobbles. Wands at the ready Harry turned the box on its side and opened it up, one of the ferrets wandered out of the box and after sniffing around a little it wandered off, the other ferret sat quite still in the box and Harry had to pull it out.

Hermione pulled a large roll of parchment from her robes and began to read "Your name is David Mallory…" she continued on, reading out a fictitious life story, her wand pointing steadily at the ferret. "Your greatest enjoyment in life is helping others, you will always be friendly and helpful to all," when she finished reading she then gave a quick sweep with her wand; a dazed and slightly bewildered Malfoy appeared where seconds before the ferret had been.

Neville conjured some clean clothes for Malfoy while Harry used his wand to clean him up; Ron reached over and placed some Muggle money into Malfoy's pocket just before Hermione finally removed the Imobilus charm she had placed on him. The new David Mallory looked at them puzzled for a second then smiling he asked "Can I help you?"

"No thanks we are fine, thank you for asking," Luna answered as they all walked away leaving him there to fend for himself.

-------------------

Fred and George stood at the door to the cottage the owl had just entered; George tapped lightly on the glass that filled the top half. A rather flustered old lady opened the door "Can I hep you?" she asked looking at the twins and taking in their appearance, "Oh Wizards eh, s'pose you're lost," She remarked.

"How did you…?" Fred began but fell silent as he realised not many Muggle's would knock on the door wearing robes and holding a broom.

"No we are not lost we just wondered if you could direct us to a place where we could get a meal?" George answered politely.

"And a drink," Fred added quickly.

"There's a nice pub in the village, do a great meal, the beer is good too," the old woman smiled. "The way you two are dressed it's a good job it's a mixed population around here and all the Muggle's here know about us." She looked at them for a moment before saying "Well boys, sorry but I have to get on," The old lady ushered them down her path, "The Pub is in the fourth house down the lane," she said pointing them in the direction they needed.

The twins walked along the lane toward the village counting the buildings as they passed, it was not long before they had arrived at the fourth one. Both of them stared at the house in front of them, it looked no different than the rest of the houses they had passed, there was no sign to indicate it was a pub, no seats or benches out front, in fact to the twins it looked just like an ordinary picture postcard country cottage the only thing missing were roses around the door. Shrugging their shoulders in unison the twins walked up the path to the front door. This time it was Fred who knocked, they did not have to wait long when the door was opened by a flustered looking old lady. Fred turned open mouthed to his brother, who was doing the exact same thing.

"Ah sorry boy's you will need the back door," the woman told them before closing the door.

George led the way around to the back of the cottage, where they soon arrived at the back door, it stood open and the murmur of happy banter drifted out to them, having knocked they were greeted from inside by a chorus of 'come in'. Entering the building they found them selves in a kitchen, a large well scrubbed wooden table stood off to one side, behind which the old lady was busy cooking. Along two of the walls were long wooden benches that resembled church pews, several men sat, all holding a glass of dark almost black liquid, two of the men stood out from the others, one because he wore a tweed suit complete with waistcoat and tie and highly polished shoes, the other was dressed in purple wizard robes with unicorns running around the waist.

The twins were greeted by nods as the room fell quiet, "Right you two sit at the table," the old woman said sounding a lot like Mrs Weasley. The twins reacted as though it was their mother who had spoke and quickly sat down, two large steaming plates of food arrived and settled themselves in front of the two astonished wizards.

"Some of the ministry guys would have a fit if they saw this place," Fred said as he picked up his knife and fork.

"I can just see dads face, he would be flabbergasted and doing that I love Muggle's look," George added.

It did not take the twins long to decide that they had found a cook who could give their mother a good bit of competition, neither spoke again while they ate their delicious stew, half way through the meal Fred glanced up at his brother who was sat with his fork unmoving just an inch from his mouth, a mouth that hung wide open as he stared over Fred's shoulder, looking behind him to see what George was staring at his mouth also dropped open.

-----------------

Arthur was pacing up and down the kitchen of the Burrow his brow furrowed with deep worry lines.

"Arthur dear, you said the report you got said they were all ok, so stop pacing and wearing out the floor, come sit down and have a cup of tea," Molly scolded.

"A Dementor Molly, she was attacked by a Dementor, and how is it that one of the boy's killed it, they are supposed to be immortal, you can't just kill one," Arthur sounded really worried.

"Well dear it seems one of your son's did the impossible, you should be proud of them," Molly plonked his mug unceremoniously on the table, "Now sit!"

Arthur Weasley Minister of magic did exactly as his wife said, he knew that look and he knew better than to argue any further. After what seemed a long enough period of time Arthur spoke again "What were they doing at Azkaban, what possessed them to go there of all places?"

"What did it say in the report?" Molly asked.

"Well they visited Malfoy, Malfoy was allowed to sit with them while they talked, Hermione was then attacked as she walked the battlement's, they left soon after, leaving behind a dead Dementor and one rather sleepy Malfoy, Malfoy was returned to his cell as they left, that's all it said." Arthur paused before continuing, "I got the report from a Joshua Ivanhoe Davies, comes from a good family, nice young man should be promoted soon."

"We will just have to wait till they get home, they must have had good reasons for going to visit Malfoy," Molly said with a finality that told Arthur that the subject was closed.

Harry and Hermione led the way up their garden path, Ron and Luna behind them, Neville and Susan had gone home, reaching their front door Harry stopped to read a note pinned to the door. It read simply '_Need to see you at the Burrow, Arthur'_


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 16

George and The Dark Haired Woman

George looked over Fred's shoulder as a dream stepped into view, the thoughts he had been having about Hermione totally evaporated from his mind. The woman he stared at held two large glass mugs of the dark ale and was approaching their table, her dark brown almost black eyes fell on George and she stopped mid step. With long flowing jet black hair and pale yet perfect complexion she was the most beautiful and wonderful creature he thought he had ever seen.

Fred looked over his shoulder to see what had grabbed his brother's attention, his eyes took in her beautiful looks and figure; he also noticed how she was looking at his brother with the same expression as George, "Are those for us m'dear?" Fred asked breaking the spell between the two staring people.

She gave her head a little shake then brought the beer to the table, her eyes never left George as she placed the drink in front of them, just a moment or maybe a day later George did not know how long, she returned to the cooker and stood beside the old lady.

"George, George, G.e.." Fred's voice came to him from a distance, slowly he managed to shake himself from his stupor "Did you say something Fred?"

"Wonder what Hermione would say if she saw you now?" Fred said a large smile on his face.

"Who? what?" George said, still looking at the dark haired woman who now had her back to him.

"Hermione, our friend's wife, the one you saved today, the one you said you were in love with," Fred chuckled at his brother.

"In love with, yes I think I am, isn't she beautiful," George answered dreamily, still staring at the young woman standing at the cooker.

"Well eat up, we don't want to be flying in the dark in this weather now do we?" Fred said.

"Flying? Yes I think so," George mumbled not taking his eyes off the vision he saw in front of him.

"Hello. Earth to George Weasley, Hello is anybody home?" Fred said tapping his brother on the head.

The tap on the head bought George back to the present momentarily. "What is it Fred?" he asked.

"As I was saying we should eat up and get moving," Fred repeated this time with a little more urgency "It's started snowing again, not exactly the best weather for flying."

George looked over toward the cooker and his eyes seemed to glaze over yet again. Fred sighed as he looked at his brother, he could not remember anyone being so affected by a woman. Unless of course you counted Ron when he first saw Fleur, wondering what to do about the situation he began to debate the options with himself.

George suddenly rose from the table and strode toward the dark haired woman. "Would you care to dance?" he asked politely.

"But there isn't any music," the woman replied.

"Isn't there, funny every time I look at you I can hear music playing," George said very convincingly.

The old lady turned from her cooking and waved her wand at an old radio that sat in the window. Waltz music erupted from the speaker gentle and soft at first but growing louder till it reached a comfortable level.

Fred decided that this was not good; today of all days was definitely not the day for his twin to fall for someone. As the music stopped Fred took out his money and left a good amount of it on the table before grabbing his brother and almost frog marching him from the house. They were just out side the doorway when George leant back poking his head into the kitchen. "We live in the south of England in Ottery St Catchpole, if you're ever in the area call in at the Burrow, ask for George."

Fred dragged his brother away and urged him to mount his broom. Minutes later they were once more flying over the sea snow made the going slow but they reached the coast of England just when the sun began to set.

----------------

Harry, Ron, Luna and Hermione, having read Arthur's note made their way to the Burrow. Snow had once more begun to fall as they arrived, they found Arthur pacing up and down in the kitchen an odd look on his face. As soon as he saw Hermione he rushed toward her and asked if she was ok, "I received a report said you had been attacked by a Dementor, I have been so worried," he said looking her over for signs of hurt or injury.

"I'm fine, George rescued me and Fred gave me some chocolate," Hermione answered him quite calmly.

Not seeming convinced he asked "Are you sure?"

"I'm absolutely fine, honestly," she replied.

"Harry what were you thinking visiting Azkaban, what on earth caused you to go there?" Arthur still sounded a little worried.

"We went to visit Malfoy, just to check he was still there," Harry said his eyes focused on his feet.

"Oh he's still there, he'll be there till he dies if it's left to me," Arthur began to calm down.

"It's all ok pop, no one really got hurt and everything worked out fine," Luna said with a vague glance at Harry and Ron.

Ron gave a small cough and tried to change the subject, "Don't suppose you've got any chocolate cake left?" he asked his mother.

Molly suddenly forgetting the worry she had been feeling just minutes before, commanded them all to sit while she rustled up some food, Ron thought it the best idea anyone had had since their arrival.

"Did Fred and George get home yet?" Hermione asked as casually as she could.

"Oh yes that reminds me, the report I got said one of the boy's had actually killed a Dementor, is that true?" Arthur asked his eye brows vanishing under the little hair he had left.

"That was George, he came hurtling out of nowhere wielding a huge glowing sword in his hands, with just one sweep he decapitated the Dementor, at least that's what the guard told me," Hermione answered.

"Did any of you get to see the sword?" Arthur asked eagerly, he admitted to them he would be very happy to know how to dispose of the evil that now guarded Azkaban. "After all we can't keep them there forever, at the rate crime has been dropping they will soon start looking elsewhere for their prey, we can't have that," he sighed then leant back in his chair.

"The boy's haven't been in touch yet Hermione dear, it's probably the weather," Molly said as she ladled out soup for them.

-----------------

In London Charlie was meeting Nicky's mother, they had no idea where her father was as they hadn't seen him for years, not wanting the responsibility of children he had left them soon after Nicky was born. It amazed Charlie how well he got on with Nicky's mum and though it was his first time meeting her he decided to tell her a little more about himself than he had originally intended, before he could begin, Nicky suddenly told her mother that she and Charlie intended to get married on Christmas day, Charlie stared at Nicky in shock. Christmas was just a week away, '_Do I want to get married so soon'_ he thought. Then he looked at the pleading look Nicky was giving him.

"Yes Christmas day, so there are just a few things I should tell you about myself and my family," said Charlie though not having a clue where to start.

Nicky's mum seemed a very pleasant likable lady, around the same age as his own mother, Charlie wondered how other witches and wizards before him had told their future in laws that they might end up with a grandchild that could do magic.

"Shall we have a nice cup of tea dear? then you can tell me all about what ever has you looking so worried. Oh and you can call me Jess, my name is Jessica but all my friends call me Jess," Nicky's mum said moving to get up to make some tea.

Charlie saw his chance and decided it was now or never, "Ok, Jess you just sit back and watch this, now I don't want you getting frightened or anything, what I am about to show you must be kept secret between us."

Jess nodded, wondering what Charlie was talking about.

Charlie pulled out his wand and with a quick wave he conjured up three cups of piping hot tea. The tea appeared in mid air, hovering shortly before settling in front of them on the coffee table.

"Sugar?" Charlie said as he waved his wand again, the cups were joined by three spoons and a small glass bowl of sugar.

Jess stared her eyes as wide as saucers, "How did you do that. Charlie?" she gasped.

"Oh that was easy he replied, now this is a little more difficult," he said pointing his wand at the table. The table rose slowly about a foot into the air before turning upside down, the cups and sugar along with a magazine remained on the table not a drop was spilt, Jess stared at him then began to take deep slow breaths "Nicky he's doing magic! How did you do that?"

Charlie told Jess all about himself and his family, about his mum and dad brothers and sister. Jess was ok with most of what he was telling her after all he had just done some magic, it was when Charlie told her that his main job had been looking after Dragons that she stopped him.

"Come on Charlie, do I look like I believe in Dragons?" she laughed.

Charlie and his soon to be mother in law got on really well with each other as he did magic things for her and after each one she asked for more.

"Is it all right if I hug your mum?" he asked Nicky, giving her a crafty wink.

"Fine by me Charlie Just don't go to far, ok," Nicky smiled.

Charlie standing and moving away from the table asked Jess to join him for a hug. Jess looked at her daughter wondering what she had meant by '_not to far'_. As soon as he had his arms around Jess, Charlie dissaparated, reappearing outside the backdoor, Jess gasping for breath almost yelled "Blimey Charlie! Can we do that again?"

Charlie left two very happy women when he finally went home to the Burrow that night. Now he just had to tell his parents that he would be getting married on Christmas day. He stood outside the kitchen door for quite sometime as he practiced what to say, when he eventually walked into the kitchen he was covered in snow.

-------------------

Fred and George arrived just minutes after Charlie; they landed exceptionally quietly the deep snow muffling all their sound. Just as George reached out to open the door he heard his mother give a sort of squeal and she screamed "But that's next week."


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 17

Fred and George entered the kitchen to a see collection of people, all stood with their mouths wide open while Charlie was repeating "She asked, I said yes."

Molly finally found her normal voice "You decided to get married in a week's time Charlie, how the heck do we get it all sorted. Hang on she's not preg…"

"No mum she is not," Charlie answered before his mother could finish.

"What did we miss?" Fred wanted to know.

George was only half listening as he crossed the room his mind was reliving the vision he had had earlier. Arthur noticing the look of vagueness in his sons face followed George into the living room. "Hermione tells me you saved her today," Arthur said as he sat in his chair next to the fire.

"Do you think there is such a thing as love at first sight dad?" George asked looking at his father, "only some thing strange happened today."

"Do you mean the sword? where did you get it? How was it able to kill a Dementor?" Arthur asked a little eagerly.

George was surprised by his father's questions, he had no idea where he had got the sword from or how it had killed the thing that was trying to kill the woman he had thought he was in love with.

"I thought that I was in love with Hermione, dad. I had to stop that thing and the sword just appeared," George answered.

Arthur realised as he was about to ask another question exactly what his son had said, "You thought you loved Hermione? OUR Hermione? You thought you loved her, what do you mean? Does that mean that something changed your mind?"

George told his father about the woman he had seen in Ireland "I felt something Like I had been hit with lightning," George finished.

Arthur had a good idea about how his son felt. He had himself felt as though he had been struck by lightening when Molly had agreed to their first date, but he had known Molly for a while before then, being at the same school. Before Arthur could think up a suitable answer for his sons question Hermione entered the room.

"Molly wants you Arthur, something about preparing for this wedding," she looked at George who was once more looking vague.

Arthur left the room knowing that Hermione wanted to talk to George.

"George I want to say thank you for rescuing me today, if not for you I would have had that awful creature suck out my soul, and would now be one of those soulless creatures they keep in Azkaban," she said holding out her hand to him.

George seemed to pull himself out of a daydream, "Hermione do you believe in love at first sight, I mean even before you've spoken to each other?"

It was Hermione's turn to be surprised, stuttering a little she replied "Oh. love at first sight, yes, yes I do. I mean I fell in love with Harry first time I saw him."

George explained to Hermione telling her all he had told his father before once more drifting into a dream like state. He was still sitting with the vague look on his face when Harry came in search of Hermione. "What ever is wrong with George he looks like he just met a Veela," Harry said as he gave Hermione a peck on her cheek.

"I think it might be worse than that love, I think he is in love with a girl he doesn't even know," Hermione said a little worried.

Ron poked his head around the door and asked Harry and Hermione to join him self and Luna upstairs. They arrived in the bedroom to find Luna waiting.

"What's this idea you had then Ron?" Luna asked.

"Well I was just thinking maybe we could sort of have a renewing of vows, we could have a sort of triple wedding, what with us all having been separated for two years an all that," Ron blushed.

"Are you asking me to marry you again then Ron?" Luna asked looking slightly shocked instead of vague.

"No, well in a way I suppose, perhaps we could just have a huge happy to be home celebration, with Charlie's wedding as the main event. It's just that I think now I feel so happy and all the family is reunited we should celebrate," Ron finished and sat down to let it sink in.

It was not long before a huge celebration was being planned by the two couples, though they had discounted the need for a second wedding as just a little over the top. Hermione was so excited by the whole idea she decided that they would have to inform Molly immediately; reaching the kitchen they found Charlie, Arthur, Fred and Mrs Weasley looking a little upset and discussing George. In the short time that they had been in the bedroom discussing their plans George had decided to take a holiday and had left to go back to Ireland in search of the dark haired woman. Fred was extremely worried about his twin, it was one of the few times he had not been able to influence George, who had insisted he had to go, he had to sort it out, the thought of the woman was driving him to distraction.

--------------

George arriving in Ireland found it quite easy to retrace his flight to the small village he was in search of; landing just outside the house that contained the pub they had used previously he walked around to the back door. After knocking and getting no answer George walked back through the village to the cottage he had first seen the old lady in, the door was opened halfway through his first knock.

"Took you a while," the old lady said as she invited him in.

A little confused George followed the woman through the house to a small but very neat living room; they passed a very narrow staircase as they walked the passage that seemed to run from the front to the back of the house.

"He's here," the old lady called up the stairs as they passed, once in the living room George was offered a cup of tea, "do you take milk and sugar dear?" the old lady asked.

"Just milk please, er I am a little confused, it seems almost as if you were expecting me," George answered.

"Yes that's right dear, I did not think you would have actually left when you did, made me think maybe she was wrong, but they have never been wrong before," the old lady told him.

George was by now totally confused, why had they been expecting him? What was it about the dark haired woman that made him feel so strange? What power had drawn him back to this tiny village so far from home? He had just opened his mouth to ask more questions when the young dark haired beauty walked in to the room, she carried a small suitcase with her.

"See aunt, I knew I was right, I told you he was the one," she said as she placed her suitcase behind George's chair.

------------

Back at the Burrow the preparations for a huge party centred around Charlie's wedding were well under way, former members of the order of the phoenix were enrolled to help in getting every thing sorted. Ron and Luna had returned to their home, mainly to prepare rooms for any guest that might not find room at the Burrow. It was as they were sorting out the bedding that they began to laugh, Ron kept dropping his end of the sheets as they were folding them, Luna began to tease him about being a butter fingers, just a few short minutes after beginning they fell onto the bed, Ron caught hold of Luna and kissed her.

Harry and Hermione never even got as far as sorting out anything at all, as soon as they entered the bed room Harry looked at his wife then at the bed, Hermione's eyes followed his movements her thoughts the same as his, they were in the bed without a word being spoken. An hour later they left the bedroom to take a shower, where once again they were lost in each others arms, and Hermione was finally able to get her body rub

Harry woke early the following morning and made his way to the kitchen where he prepared breakfast for them both. Hermione joined him as the bacon was cooking, giving of a delicious smell.

"We should send an owl to Ron and Luna, see what they have planned for the day," Harry said as he loaded Hermione's plate with food.

"Perhaps we should wait, I mean I can think of much more interesting things to do," Hermione said as she gave Harry a come on smile then fluttered her eyelashes.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 18 Friday

Plans for the party to celebrate the return of Harry, Hermione, Luna, and Ron to their normal lives were soon sorted out by Mr and Mrs Weasley, people from all around the country were expected, the party was to begin on the Saturday morning with the wedding of Charlie and Nicky, then continue over the Christmas weekend. All the Weasley's except George who had not been heard from since leaving for Ireland, and Ginny who was away on a Quidditch tour set to work getting everything ready, Hermione and Luna had Harry and Ron redecorating their homes for when guests came to stay. Friday evening Harry and Hermione were sitting at home telling each other about their time living as Muggle's and discussing the coming party.

"I should really ask my old partner Jeff if he would like to come, but I don't suppose it would go down too well having another Muggle," Harry said as he picked up a butter beer and sat on the couch next to Hermione.

"Well maybe we should invite him to the christening instead," she replied rather quietly.

Harry choked as he had just filled his mouth with butter beer half a second before she spoke. "Ch… Chri… christ… christening, what christening?" he asked spluttering and dropping his butter beer.

"Well I, that is we, well we never used the contraception charm since we got back so it's highly possible I could be, well you know… pregnant," Hermione said in a calm voice "and my home test was positive, I just need to see a healer to have it confirmed."

Harry had no idea how to react to this news, was he going to be a father? was he going to have the family he had always wanted? What did Hermione want? was she happy about it? He was having some difficulty getting his brain to take it in.

"It is going to be a big responsibility Harry, we might even end up having twins, I suppose I should see a healer soon so they can do the charm to find out one way or the other," Hermione said once again in a very calm voice.

Hermione was worried Harry would not want a family yet, neither of them had a job or had even thought about one yet. She sat watching her husband's eyes trying to read his reaction, Harry heard the word healer and suddenly everything became clear in his mind, he would fetch one right now, then if they were having a baby they would have one more thing to celebrate. Jumping to his feet he gave Hermione a huge hug then rushed out of the room shouting over his shoulder "I'm off to find a healer mummy Potter."

Once outside Harry vanished, arriving at St Mungo's just seconds later, it did not take him long to find the maternity ward, stopping one of the passing healers he asked where he could find a healer who might be willing to do a home visit and check out his wife.

"If you could just wait in that room over there I will see if I can find the duty healer for you," the young woman told him.

Harry followed her directions and entered the room indicated, he gasped when he entered, there sitting with his back to him was a person he could not fail to recognise. "You too eh?" Harry said as he closed the door behind him.

Ron sat up with a start; he had not heard anyone enter because his mind had been on other things. He stared at Harry for a second or two then collapsing back into his chair he said "looks that way."

"Are you ok Ron?" Harry asked a rather worried looking Ron.

"Having a baby, you know Harry that could make me a father," Ron said in a worried disbelieving voice. "I don't know if I can do it Harry, I mean we haven't had any training in being a dad."

Harry chuckled "You'll be fine Ron; you have had one of the best teachers in the world."

Ron looked at his friend in surprise quite unsure what he meant "Teacher, Me, Who?" Ron asked his usual insecurities still in control.

"Well the best person I know to teach you about being a dad is a Mr Arthur Weasley, you might know him," Harry said laughing.

Ron's mind drifted to when he was a small boy, thinking about all the things his father had taught him, a few minutes later his worried expression had been replaced with a look of happiness.

"You know Harry, I think you might just be right," he said as he smiled at Harry.

---------------

Luna took a pinch of flue powder and dropped it into the fire, once the flames had turned to an emerald colour she put her head in the flames and said "Potter living room."

Hermione was not surprised by Luna's head appearing in her fire, "Did you tell him?" she asked.

Hermione nodded back to her friend. "Harry ran off to St Mungo's."

"Hang on I'll pop over," Luna said before she vanished from the flames.

Hermione conjured up a small pot of tea and two cups and was pouring the tea when Luna appeared next to her.

"What did Ron say?" Hermione asked as she handed a cup to Luna.

"Well it's funny really he never said a word just kept looking at me at first, then he made me sit down, he even helped me to sit, like I was a china doll or something breakable, then he just up and vanished," Luna answered.

"That's Ron for you, never sure of himself," Hermione chuckled.

"So Harry ran off to find a healer, did he say anything?" Luna asked.

"No nothing just gave me a hug then rushed out saying he was off to find a healer, mind you the look on his face when I let it out," Hermione was still chuckling, she described in detail how they had been talking about the party and Harry's old partner and how she had suggested he be invited to the christening.

"You never, bet that surprised him," Luna joined in with the chuckles as she envisioned Harry's face.

"I did, Harry nearly choked on his butter beer, I think I may have caught him off guard," said Hermione between giggles.

"I bet. Me I just asked Ron what he wanted, a boy or a girl, then I said well we will have to wait a few months to find out, as usual it took him a while to catch on," Luna chuckled at the thought of seeing it dawn on Ron what she had told him.

-------------

Arthur sat in his favourite seat and put his feet up on the foot stool, the week had been a very tiring but also a very good one for him, he had watched as his family had rallied around and without any bidding they had all done all they could to see that everything would be ready for this very special Christmas, he was pleased with his family; they had turned out to be really nice people.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Molly said as she placed a large mug of tea beside her husband.

"Oh I was just thinking how well the children all turned out," Arthur smiled, he was proud of all but one of them, his son Percy who had insulted Arthur and had publicly disowned his family, he still had not apologised and was no longer classed as family.

"Its going to be a rather busy weekend dear, is there anything we forgot do you think?" Molly asked.

"No I think we have everything covered, Charlie getting married the children back with us, George off heaven knows where or why, do you know he asked me if I believe in love at first sight," Arthur said as he sipped at his tea.

"Yes he asked me that too, I had to explain how I did and fell in love with you, then spent an age trying to be in the same places where you were," Molly smiled at her memories.

Arthur blinked a little surprised by this small revelation "Did you?" he said.

Molly sat down on the arm of his chair and placed an arm around his shoulder, the kitchen was quiet, every one else in the Burrow was asleep, they sat there Arthur with his arm around Molly's waist while she had an arm draped around his shoulder. They were sat for a while before Arthur spoke "we must have been a foolish pair, you and me."

"What ever makes you say that dear?" Molly asked a little touch of shock in her voice.

"Well me trying to pluck up the courage to ask you out, and you trying to get me to notice you," Arthur laughed a quiet little laugh.

"I suppose putting it like that we were a little silly," Molly answered.

"Time for bed I think," Molly said as she sent the cups to the sink. "It's going to be a long weekend for all of us."

Arthur was agreeing when they heard a light knock on the back door just before it opened.

---------------

Harry and Ron had been joined in the waiting room by the senior healer on duty, "I have a slight problem, would you mind if I send one of the junior healers with you, since everyone found out it was you two they all want to accompany you?" she asked.

Both Harry and Ron agreed having quickly decided that their needs were not really urgent. They were introduced to a young healer named Janice, she seemed rather awed at the fact she would be accompanying two of the most famous wizards alive. Her hand was shaking a little as she shook hands first with Ron then with Harry. She followed them to the main reception having no idea where she was going, she had not even thought to ask when she had been told she would be going to make a house call on Mrs Potter and Mrs Weasley, still a little shocked she stood next to the fire place they would be using, having thrown some flue powder into the fire she suddenly realised and asked. "Where are we going?" she asked timidly.

Harry smiled at her "Your house first then Ron."

Ron agreed and told her they were going to '_Hollow nook'_ first. The healer called out the name and vanished she was followed by Ron and Harry. They stumbled from the fireplace in Ron's kitchen, Harry and the healer took a seat while Ron went to find Luna, he was back two minutes later with the news that his wife was not home.

"Bet she's gone over to your house," Ron said to Harry as he returned to the kitchen.

"Ah well then it's off to the Potter house," Harry said leading the way to the fireplace followed by the slightly bemused healer, they arrived in Harry's kitchen to find both Luna and Hermione having a laugh and a cup of tea.

"This is Janice, Janice this is my wife Hermione and Ron's wife Luna," Harry told the wide eyed young healer.

"Girls this is Janice, she is a healer and kindly consented to accompany us here," Ron said as Janice shook hands with the two women looking as though she was meeting the Queen.

Hermione was tested first. Healer Janice ran her wand over her entire body length testing her magical power, as the wand passed Hermione's stomach area a small glow appeared from somewhere under Hermione's skin.

"You show positive Mrs Potter, do you want to know the sex, we can tell by the colour of the glow."

Both Hermione and Harry declined, they did not want to know, they would prefer a surprise, Luna underwent the same test and was also proved positive, once again neither Ron nor Luna wanted to know the sex of their baby, Harry and Ron had suddenly both decided that they needed to sit down and flopped down at the table. The healer offered the men a little charm to deal with the shock, but was stopped by both Luna and Hermione who thought that they would soon be ok.

As the healer left to return to St Mungo's with their thanks ringing in her ears, Luna suggested they take a short trip over to the Burrow to tell mum and dad.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer……….. All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 19

The weekend

Arthur looked up wondering who would be knocking at this time of night, especially as they had such a full day to get through tomorrow, Molly's eyes also turned toward the door. They both sat there watching as the door opened slowly, Molly gave out a small gasp and Arthur's eyes almost popped out as they saw a beautiful dark haired young woman enter; she was followed by George, a huge grin on his face.

"Hi mum, dad, I would like you to meet a friend of mine, Cadhla Branna De Dannan, who has kindly allowed me to call her Caddie," George said introducing the dark haired beauty.

It was at that moment the kitchen door opened once more. Luna followed by Ron, Hermione and Harry entered. Both the young men stared at Caddie taking in her dark looks and curvy shape. Hermione gave Harry a look that made him stare guiltily at the floor, while Luna gave Ron a rather sharp elbow to the ribs making him squeak and look reproachfully at her, totally unaware of what he had done to deserve such treatment. George went through the introductions again; he then suggested they all take a seat.

As was usual in the Weasley household every one took a seat at the huge kitchen table, Harry started the conversation by coughing and then blurting out "Molly, Arthur we're pregnant… well that is Hermione is… that means we are going to have a baby."

Molly stared disbelievingly as Ron decided to drop his little bombshell as well. "Luna is pregnant too," he said almost as though he thought saying it fast would lessen the shock.

Arthur looked around at his family, George with his new friend, Harry and Hermione with their news then Ron and Luna, "I should have gone to bed early," he said grinning at his wife who was still sat with her mouth open.

Before she found her voice Harry said "Ok George your turn, are you going to tell us where you have been for the past few days?"

George looked at Caddie and took a breath, "When we were at Azkaban and I conjured that sword, it was the sword of the king of the Tuatha de Danann. They were an ancient Irish race. In fact the Tuatha de Danann are thought to be the Irish equivalent of the Greek and Roman Gods except they actually existed, Caddie is their last descendant, she and her aunt have been waiting for a wizard who was foretold in a prophecy, this wizard will be the one who will protect the last of the Danann and will have their secrets revealed to him. It seems that being able to call forth the sword was the way he would be revealed. Caddie and her aunt could see something about me that told them it was me."

Caddie took up the story "I knew as soon as I saw George, he had a sort of sparkle about him, my aunt saw it as well. We were both surprised when he left with his brother, Aunt said he would not be able to resist and would return to take up his destiny, I was almost convinced we had got it wrong, I had almost resigned myself to returning to my life of waiting when he came back. As soon as he returned and we spoke I knew for certain George is the one foretold. He thought it better if we return here, thought it would be better for us both and so here we are."

Molly was still sat gaping, she was wondering what was happening to her world, it seemed everything was happening all at once.

"Well George, Caddie you have arrived just in time for Charlie's wedding and a huge party to celebrate the return of Luna, Ron, Hermione and Harry. It all starts in the morning with the wedding, and then we will be celebrating all weekend. I take it you will be staying with us my dear?" Arthur said looking at Caddie.

"Charlie is getting married," George gasped "when?"

"Eleven o clock tomorrow morning," Arthur said in answer to the question.

Molly finally found her voice "Just a minute Arthur, Harry did you say pregnant and did I hear you say the same thing Ron?"

Both Harry and Ron nodded sheepishly, unsure how Molly was going to react to two new grandchildren, they need not have worried, Molly rose and rushed to her daughter in law and gave her a huge hug, then turned to Hermione and did the same. "Arthur this is wonderful, our babies are grown up, they are going to have babies of their own."

She then turned to Caddie and gave her a hug "You come with me dear, I'll show you your room," she said to a slightly surprised Caddie.

Molly questioned Caddie as she led the way up the rather winding staircase. "Are you and George you know er, together, I mean boyfriend girlfriend sort of together?"

"Well no, but I would be happier if he asked me, I think he is wonderful," Caddie replied turning pink faced.

Molly smiled at the newcomer and gave a small sigh "Well dear if he isn't blind I think he will soon be asking you out, that is if he's got a little more sense than Ron, you know it took years before Ron realised he was in love with Luna, everyone else could see it, but not Ron. This room will be yours," she said pointing at a door. Caddie placed her case on the bed then followed Molly back down to the kitchen.

Down stairs in the kitchen Arthur was congratulating his children, "Did you find out if it was a boy or girl?" he asked Hermione.

"We want it to be a surprise," Hermione answered as she looked lovingly at Harry.

"We made the same decision," Luna said as she took hold of Ron's hand.

"Are you and Caddie a couple now George?" Harry asked changing the conversation.

"No, not really though she is the most beautiful girl I know," George said, then noticing the look he got from Luna he hastily added "outside the family that is".

They were joined again by Molly and Caddie, the conversation turned to the coming morning's wedding and went on until the early hours of the morning, Molly finally put an end to the impromptu gathering by rising and announcing that it was time pregnant women were in bed asleep. A few minutes later and the kitchen of the burrow was a dark and empty room. Harry and Hermione walked home accompanied by Ron and Luna, they continued the earlier conversation about whom Caddie was and who the Tuatha de Danann were.

Hermione informed them that she would look it up in one of her many books "There should be something in one of them, after all they are magical folk," she said as they reached the Potter house. They all bid each other goodnight as Ron and Luna headed off to their own home.

The next morning was hectic, George found himself repeating the story of Caddie to every new guest who arrived, Charlie was running around the house in search of the bow tie he was wearing, Arthur sat in his arm chair watching the panic around him and smiled to himself '_just like every other wedding we have had he thought_' as he sipped quietly at a cup of tea.

Ron and Luna arrived at the Potter house looking slightly bleary eyed. Harry opened the door to let them in then rushed off to finish dressing, Hermione made them all a strong tea and waited patiently for Harry to stop rushing around.

Eleven o clock arrived to find the biggest gatherings ever to have happened in Ottery St Catchpole, dozens of invited and uninvited witches and wizards had arrived at the Burrow.

Arthur had to send for some of his security people to help out, Charlie walked out of the house accompanied by his best man Bill, slowly they made their way to the field where the ceremony was taking place, they had to stop several times as Charlie was congratulated and given good wishes, finally standing in front of the old druid wizard Charlie began to get nervous. The music started suddenly making him jump a little. Looking around he saw Nicky approaching followed closely by Hermione and Gemma, Nicky looked stunning as she made her way toward him. The party was a huge success declared by all those there to be one that would be remembered for centuries to come, Fred and George set off everlasting fireworks that showered the entire area in glowing coloured lights throughout the night.

Harry, Ron, Luna and Hermione, spent a lot of time being welcomed home or congratulated on the news of there expected babies. By the end of the first night Harry had expected things to quieten down but the party just carried on, wizards and witches would rejoin the festivities having snuck off somewhere quiet for a quick nap. It was a most definitely a very success full weekend, proved on the Monday morning by a severe lack of people turning up for work at the ministry, Arthur had to declare the day a holiday and sent home the few people that had managed to arrive for work.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer……… All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 20.

Christmas day

Charlie woke early and looked around, unsure at first why he felt excited, milliseconds later he remembered, today was the big day. Today he would marry Nicky. The thought bought a huge smile to his face, a smile that remained there as he got dressed then went down to the kitchen for breakfast, Molly was busy cooking as usual though she seemed just a little tense as she fussed over her pots, breakfast was going to be an enormous task as they had people arriving from all over the wizarding world, all probably hungry after such an early start to the day.

"Wish we had a house elf," she said to Charlie as she placed his breakfast in front of him, "it would make things so much easier if I had help."

Charlie looked up from the table and studied his mother and it dawned on him that she was looking older, he realised that she had a tremendous amount to do on these special occasions; it was something he had never thought about before. Half way through his breakfast he heard hesitant footsteps on the stairs, he looked at his mother for some sort of explanation.

"That will be Caddie, George's friend, she's probably a little shy," Molly said as she pointed her wand at another plate on the rack, it soared gently over to the table and settled opposite him. Caddie came slowly down the last flight of stairs wondering what she might find, would she be too early for breakfast or maybe even too late. "Good morning Mrs Weasley," she said as she reached the last step.

"Good morning dear, did you sleep well, take a seat breakfast will be ready in just a few seconds," Molly replied cheerfully.

Caddie took the seat in front of the empty plate and looked at Charlie, "morning," she said quietly.

"Oh sorry dear, this is Charlie, he's the one getting married today," Molly told her as she placed the food on the plate, "Charlie this is Caddie."

"I hope George knows just what a gorgeous woman he has?" Charlie announced as he took in the beauty in front of him.

Caddie smiled her cheeks turning pink and looked down at her food, in the village she had come from the men had nearly all been old and she had never had so many compliments, her face blushed more brightly as she thought about it. It was not long before they were joined by Arthur who had dressed in his best robes, a new outfit that had been supplied to him when he had taken office as Minister.

"Morning all," Arthur quipped cheerfully as he sat at the table, "could I just have a nice cup of tea this morning dear?"

Molly gave her husband his tea and once more wished out loud for a house elf to help out.

"If you need some help Mrs Weasley I could help," Caddie said rising from her seat.

"You finish your food dear, it was just a little wishful thinking," Molly said as she refilled the plates then the cups with fresh food and drink.

"I could get the fairy folk to help out if you need them, and with the wedding and the party it looks like you will be needing some help," Caddie said as the kitchen door opened.

Caddie stared up at the ceiling a look of concentration on her face, after a few seconds several fairies appeared in the kitchen. Caddie spoke to them in a tinkling sort of language and then smiled at Molly. "Your helpers for the day," she said pointing at the fairies all of whom were watching Molly eagerly, "just tell them what you need and they will get it done."

Molly was pleasantly surprised by Caddie's apparent control of the fairies and accepted their help willingly "Thank you dear, it will be so nice to have some help."

Charlie sat open mouthed as his soon to be wife came down the stairs, she was still in her dressing gown, her hair still untidy and she looked sleepy, yet to him she looked beautiful and radiant. "Good Morning all," she announced as she joined them at the table.

"Nicky sweetheart you look wonderful," Charlie whispered to her, a look of adoration in his eyes.

Their attention was drawn to the door as it opened Harry and Hermione entered hand in hand, they both looked happy enough to burst. Molly left her cooking and rushed over to Hermione, grabbing her in a warm embrace, she then stood back and placed her hand on Hermione's stomach and bent down to whisper good morning to it.

"Molly I doubt the baby is developed enough to hear you," Hermione laughed.

"You never know," Molly said as she grabbed Harry and tried to squeeze the life from him with a huge hug.

"Mum let the poor man breath," Charlie chuckled as he watched Harry's face change colour.

"Morning Molly, Arthur, Caddie, Nicky and thanks Charlie," Harry laughed as Molly let him go.

"How is Hermione this morning?" Arthur asked in between sips of tea.

"Absolutely fine thank you Arthur, in fact I couldn't be any happier than I am right now," Hermione replied.

"And you Harry are you ok?" Arthur asked already knowing the answer.

"I'm fine thanks, but I would probably feel even better if I had a nice mug of tea," Harry replied looking with a side ways glance at Hermione.

"He's just moaning because I made him leave his mug of tea behind, he wanted to bring it with him, I ask you," Hermione said with a mock sigh.

Two small fairies had a mug of tea ready for Harry even as Molly thought of it, she was amazed at how they had pre-empted her thoughts, '_if that happens all day I'll have nothing to do_' she thought as she turned to the cooking.

Harry sat down and began talking with Arthur and Charlie while Hermione sat with Nicky and Caddie discussing the wedding and their dresses. Ten minutes later they were interrupted when Ron and Luna joined them, Ron as usual entered the kitchen declaring that he was starving. Luna gasped and turned a shade of pink, "Ronald Weasley, how on earth could you be starving, honestly mum he had enough breakfast to feed three large pigs," she declared looking at Ron in shock.

"It's ok Luna dear, Ron would declare his hunger half way through a meal if his mouth was empty long enough," Molly laughed at the indignant look on Luna's face that was aimed at Ron.

Ron's shrugged his shoulders "I was just saying," he said as he took the seat next to Harry. Looking around he noticed they were all grinning at him and he turned a dark shade of red, "well I like my food," he declared.

Just a few minutes later and George and Fred arrived from their shop. Almost as soon as they had sat down the conversation at the table turned to George and Caddie.

"I was checking out my books last night and I found and copied this, it was in Irish Myths and legends," Hermione said handing Arthur a piece of parchment. Arthur read the parchment slowly as he finished off his tea.

"Well what does it say?" asked Molly staring at him.

Arthur gave the parchment a little shake and cleared his throat; he then began to read it to them.

' _The Tuatha Dé Danann arrived in Ireland bearing with them their stone of destiny called the Lia Fail which they placed on the mound of Tara and ever after the rightful kings of Ireland were chosen when it called out. _

_They also brought the spear of Lugh which ensured victory to whoever wielded it, The Sword of Nuada from whom none could escape and the Cauldron of the Dagda from which none would go unsatisfied._

_There is a story that they came to Ireland in flying ships but could not land as the Fomorians had set up a great energy field that they could not penetrate. So they had to circle Ireland nine times before finding a breach in the energy field and setting down on Sliabh an Iarainn in Co. Leitrim._

_They clashed with the Fir Bolg who they defeated at the first battle of Magh Tuiredh and routed towards the West of Ireland where they allowed them to stay. After defeating the Fir-Bolg they were challenged by the Fomorians and had to fight another battle this time in Co. Roscommon, which became known as the second battle of Magh Tuiredh, they defeated the great Fomorian warrior Balor, and so laid undisputed claim to the land._

_They prospered under their two great heroes Nuada of the Silver Arm and Lugh of the Long Arm. They were eventually defeated by the Milesians at Teltown. _

_As they were a magical people they decided to go underground into another dimension of space and time the entrances to which are at many sites around Ireland; one of the most famous being Brugh na Boinne._

_It was reputed that only iron weapons could injure them. They became like gods to the later Celtic people and were worshipped as such. They became known as the people of the Sidhe and there are many Fairy Mounds in existence in Ireland today.'_

Arthur finished reading and passed the parchment to Harry, after a quick look Harry passed it to Charlie. The parchment was passed from one to another till all around the table had read it.

"I wonder why we never heard all this before." Arthur said to no one in particular.

"We, that is my ancestors decided it was best if we were believed to be a legend, a myth," Caddie answered, "that way we were not forever being challenged to do battle."

"So the sword George used belonged to someone called Nuada then?" Ron asked as he stuck his fork into yet another sausage.

"That's right and it is a most powerful weapon, there is not a living creature it can not slay," Caddie answered.

Arthur was highly interested in the sword but as soon as he started to ask questions Molly told him that they had more important things to do over the weekend. "We don't have time for any Ministry nonsense, we have to get the wedding and the party finished before you become Minister again," she said as she placed more food on the table. She finally ushered them all from her kitchen, telling them that there was much work to be done, it was still snowing out side and they needed to prepare the field ready for the wedding.

As they were ushered from the door Ron asked "Has anyone remembered its Christmas day? I mean I was expecting to be opening presents not shifting snow."

Everyone looked at him oddly.

"Seems you all forgot." he said a little sadly.


	21. Chapter 21

All characters are the copyright of JK Rowling

Chapter 21.

Christmas day part two.

Sorry folks this is the last Chapter of this tale, more stories to be posted very soon.

Charlie stood in the kitchen doorway wondering why everyone had stopped. Gently pushing them all forward and out into the snow, he saw what could only be described as a huge igloo standing in the Weasley field. Arthur and Molly had worked through most of the night clearing away the snow and putting up magical shields to protect the field from more snow, even they had not expected what now stood in front of them; the snow had piled up on top of the shields forming a huge white dome that glistened and sparkled all over.

Harry, holding Hermione by the hand led the way to the only visible entrance to the huge structure. He pushed away the snow that had begun to cover the area where the two Weasley parents had stood to perform the charms that were now covered in the glistening white crystals. Harry gasped as he took in the sight that greeted him, the grass of the field had been cut as smooth as a Quidditch pitch but the most awesome sight was the dome of snow as it sparkled with multiple colours. Halfway across the field stood a stage in the centre of which stood a white alter. A carpet laid out between two long rows of chairs finished the effect of the place being like a huge cathedral.

Bill along with Fleur entered on Hermione's heels, they too gasped at the sight that greeted them. They were quickly surrounded by the rest of the family, all except Nicky who had gone to get dressed and Arthur and Molly who were busy in the house, Caddie once again looked upward, a look of concentration on her face, seconds later she was joined by several fairies once again she spoke to them in that musical tinkling language. They all stood and watched as the fairies darted around the higher parts of the dome placing gleaming fairy lights that increased the sparkling effect of the snow so that the entire thing seemed to glisten and glow with ethereal light.

Harry watched as Hermione and Luna walked around conjuring flower beds each with an abundant assortment of fresh flowers, Bill and Fleur covered the alter with bouquets of roses and white lilies, while Ron and Charlie placed rows of floating candles down each side of the rows of chairs, Caddie and the twins conjured some huge globe like lights that floated around twenty feet in the air. The overall effect was amazing.

"This would make anyone's wedding day perfect," Hermione said to Harry as they all stood back to admire the work done.

Ron slipped away as they debated if more need to be done, he returned a few minutes later with his mother and father, Molly looked around at all they had done, the pride in her family bringing a lump to her throat, '_they have made the place fit for the coronation of a king_' she thought as Arthur placed his arm comfortingly around her waist.

"It looks wonderful don't you think Molly dear?" he said as a small tear appeared in his eye, "this is going to be a wonderful weekend."

Molly called her family together and suggested that some one should fetch Nicky "She might like to see where she is going to become a Weasley."

Hermione having volunteered entered the dome with Nicky, Nicky was wearing a blindfold as she was led through the door. "Ok you can look now," Hermione said quietly as they were joined by all the others.

Nicky lifted the makeshift blindfold and blinked, had they whisked her to some wondrous ice cathedral. She was totally awed at the sight and just stood there her mouth open unable to think of anything to say, by eleven o clock there were hundreds of people gathered, it was the biggest gathering for a wedding ever recorded in the wizarding history, even if most had come to see that their hero's really had returned. Nicky's mum and family along with Gemma were astonished at their surroundings; they had never seen anything like it before and would never see the same sort of thing again.

Hermione and Gemma were dressed in plain very pale pink strapless dresses that trailed several feet behind them. Nicky wore a dress that had a plain pale pink almost white strapless bodice with a skirt that flared out from just below the waist, intricate interwoven designs of white roses cascaded down from the waist band the entire length of the skirt right to the end of the train that stretched out around twenty feet behind her as she walked.

Harry sat and watched as Nicky followed by Gemma and his wife walked slowly past him, once again he thought how beautiful Hermione was, again he felt the proudest man alive, to him it did not matter how good any woman looked, he knew he had the world's most beautiful woman as his wife. The old wizard who was conducting the ceremony was the same one that had performed both Harry and Hermione's and Ron and Luna's weddings. Ron sat holding Luna's hand as his elder brother said his vows, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it and said I do as Charlie said the same words to Nicky.

Hermione looked lovingly at the man she had loved for so long, watching as he leaned over to kiss her cheek and said I do too, leaning toward him she gave him a kiss on his cheek "I love you Harry James Potter," she whispered.

The wedding was a huge success as both Muggle's and Wizarding folk alike stared around at the beautiful surroundings. Charlie stuttered for the first time in his life, the courageous and daring dragon master was nervous for the first time in his life but Nicky was sure and steady she knew they were made for each other. A huge roar went up as the wizard pronounced them married, congratulations came from all sides as Charlie and Nicky joined the rest of the family, the chairs were changed around and dozens of cosy round tables were dotted around the field to form a large circle the centre of which was used as a dance floor.

The party began as soon as the conversion was completed. A bar appeared near to the entrance where magically made mead and wine were freely available. Musicians gathered from the crowds and it was only a short time before the dance floor was full of dancing couples. Charlie and Nicky began the dancing with a waltz, they were soon joined by Harry and Hermione then Ron and Luna, George led Caddie onto the dance area followed by Nicky's mum and an elderly wizard.

Ron held Luna gently in his arms as they danced, he remembered how much he had dreamt about her during the two years without his memory, even then he had loved this woman his best friend, lover, wife and soon to be mother of his child. He was as happy as he could ever be. Luna was also remembering things, as she looked around she thought about how poor and how lonely she had been for those two years, she leaned forward resting her head on her husbands chest and wondered how strange fate was in bringing them back together, she knew that she and this wonderful red haired man were meant to be together for all time.

Harry was as happy as he could ever remember being, he was going to be a father, he was to have his own family at last, after years as a lonely orphan he would never be lonely again. Looking at Hermione he thought how wonderful she was, this woman who had loved him enough to want to marry him and have his children, he pulled her a little closer placing his hands around her waist "I love you Hermione Jane Potter," he whispered as they rocked to the music. Hermione smiled up at Harry, he was an amazing man she thought, after all the things he has gone through he is still able to love and it's me he loves, "I feel like I have loved you all my life Harry, and I will always love you," Hermione said as she kissed him.

George and Caddie began the dancing leaving a space between them, by the third dance they were dancing to a slow tune and could not have got any closer together. As each dance ended Caddie was surrounded by men all asking for the next dance but she looked at George and with a little apology she turned them all away telling them George already asked, it was not long before people saw them kissing.

Charlie and Nicky danced forgetting that others were dancing as well, as far as they were concerned there were no other people in the world. They all danced well into the night, stopping only to go to the loo or to get a quick drink.

Harry took Hermione home around two in the morning, insisting she get some rest. Ron followed Harry's lead and took Luna home telling her that in her condition she needed the rest.

Arthur and Molly left the party a little later and went to bed, the week end was going to be a very long but happy one, all was well with their world and they were happy once more.

The End.


End file.
